Once upon a time there was only me and you. I couldn't believe my good fortune in finding you. Suddenly one day, there you were. A jewel among jewels. I reached down and picked you up. It was an extraordinary genesis.

I think you were intrigued by me, too. In the beginning. You thought I had something, some unusual quality that couldn't be found anywhere else. I never knew what it was. I never cared. I was too awestruck that you should want me in your life. To find a jewel and to learn that the jewel sees its own reflection in you; well, it was the height of absurdity and yet it was the cat's meow. My spirit soared with the image of myself that I saw reflected in your eyes.

I looked around and realized no one else had noticed. None of the other jewels had seen how special you were. Perhaps they were too blinded by their own brilliance and color. By their own carefully faceted countenances, their own remarkable beauty. How they failed to spot you I will never know. It was obvious to me from the beginning that you were like no other. The first time I ever saw you, I knew. My eye went straight to you, instantly discerned you in the midst of all the others. I reached down and picked you up and you shone even brighter in the palm of my hand.

"Wow," I said. "This gem is priceless, unique. Look at its color, its depth. See all that it has to offer? The wisdom of the ages is captured in this perfectly formed crystal. See how it is tempered with time? See its sparkle, its fire? The magnificence of this stone knows no equal."

Perhaps that was my great mistake. Perhaps I should have kept you all to myself. Slipped you into my pocket and secured you for my own. Told no one of your existence. Hogged you and horded you in my most miserly fashion.

Perhaps.

But I didn't.

I couldn't.

After a time in my pocket you would simply languish.

What worth has a beautiful jewel if one doesn't share it? If others are not allowed to recognize it as precious or appreciate its inherence? Is it pardonable to deny a beloved jewel its moment in the Sun? I think not. Do not the very rays of the Sun reveal the truest beauties buried deep within?

I die a little inside to let you go, but do I not die even more to wish you captive, to deny you that which is rightfully yours? Respect, admiration, kinship ... these are also precious jewels. You deserve to adorn yourself with them, to revel in their manifestation at long last.

Sadly I watch you slip away. My heart breaks just a little.

Just a little.

And just enough, hopefully, so that within the crevasse created by your absence, a seed of selfless love will sprout and grow. Perhaps my heart will grow with it.