It was the subtle breeze that moved his hair. I watched it move slowly, dragging my eyes to his. For then I felt a smile brush upon my face and his eyes had suddenly become my canvas. I knew that there was something rare about the way he saw everything around him. He had dark eyes yet they made him the most transparent person I’ve ever met. Not only could I see that he perceived the world in a different way, but I could also tell that you could see him and see a whole world behind his gaze. When he saw buildings, he didn’t see colors or structures, he saw ideas and feelings. When he looked at people he didn’t see the clothes they were wearing or if their hair was slicked back perfectly, he saw beyond the surface and dug deeper into their insides --he saw their demons. When he saw nature he didn’t focus on the animals or the trees, he focused on the way they moved and together like the melody in a song. He had become the canvas to my eyes and I wasn’t letting go of that one precious moment where we met at a distance. I knew him from a far sight more than I have ever known a long life friend. In that split second he told me his pains and gains, his smiles and tears, his angels and demons, his scars and memories, and I bet he read the same in me. I had let him in with just one stare because he gave away, with his eyes, that welcoming feeling you get when you hear your lover whisper “I love you” into your ear, and he leaves it engraved in you like a scar that won’t wipe off.

And so I did, I love you.