I love you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry if my love ever felt like too much, too loud, too heavy on your chest. I tried to keep it quiet, I really did… but it keeps slipping through, in the way I look at you, in the way I stay even when I shouldn't.

I know you didn't ask for this. I know I make it hard sometimes, just by feeling everything all at once. But I can't help it.

I love you in ways I don't know how to explain, and maybe that's unfair to you. So if my love ever made you feel like you owed me something — I'm sorry. I never meant for you to feel guilty. I just didn't know where else to put this feeling except into you.

And if loving you quietly is the only way to keep you around, then I'll try to be silent.

-mathew