b r a v e c r e a t u r e s

I was in Sydney on the weekend and ran into P, who I had been dating for a while. He is a wonderful man, and its a little sad that things ended.

But they did end and for what are, more or less, positive reasons for both of us.

He is no more perfect for me that I am for him - but people are not perfect and while we may not have been a match he is a good man, a good friend and someone I care about. I hope he has some part in the rest of my life.

When I look at the things in him that I value, its his honesty and his humor and his honor. People don't need to be perfect to be worthy of love, they just need to be themselves. None of the men I have been with seriously have been centerfolds, or fashion plates - but they have all had a certain quality of heart that makes them radiant as people†.

I heard a quote the other day that says something of this:

My lovers eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than his lips red:
If snow be white, why then his chest is dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on his head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in his cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my lover reeks.
I love to hear him speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a god go,
My lover, when he walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any he belied with false compare.

I am paraphrasing here, but I think you get my meaning.

P is a beautiful man and its true that I miss him. For all of his imprefections, for all that he walks on the ground, he is a rare and wonderful man. As much as I would like to, I don't think I will say this to him, he might get the wrong ideas about my intentions. I miss him, its true, but I want what is ahead of me, what is right and true for me, not simply what is good in my past.

I hope he knows how much I value him, how much I think he is worth.

† barring one poisonous exception