You caught me not knowing the color of your eyes. Picking up this stone reminded me in the moment that i still didn’t know. That i was shy and nervous both too much to look at you that directly. i didn’t know what you would see if i did. i didn’t know what i’d see.

The shop owner told me it’s a Hawk’s Eye stone, and as i examined it i realized slowly that i couldn’t fathom it all. i’d never be able to memorize the intricate, beautiful details of its visible makeup. i wondered if, given these unknowable qualities, a stone like that could still grow to feel familiar in my hand.

Like this stone, our relationship seems to me smooth, attractive, inscrutable, captivating, brilliant, unfamiliar. i had written only the night before that you were a poem i wanted to read over and over again—not to memorize, but to feel the lyrical beauty, revisit the warmth. i supposed i could start by looking you in the eye.

Perhaps our relationship will continue to be as mysterious to me as the inside of that stunning stone. So very little is known—there’s so much more to be explored. i hope all of it is as delicately detailed and gorgeously hued as the gift itself. Worth a good look.