Cielito — a note without occasion

Folio I — Without reason

i love you,
for no reason
in particular.

Nothing prompted this. No date in the calendar circled itself, no anniversary leaned in to remind me. I made it on a perfectly ordinary day because loving you is the most ordinary, most extraordinary thing I do — and once in a while that should be said out loud, on the record, for no reason at all.

No event · No reason · Just you

no entry number / no end date
on loan from the universe,
indefinitely

Subject

You

Occasion

None whatsoever

From

Tadiwanashe

Filed under

Just because

Folio II — On you

you, in
detail.

These are observations, not events. Nothing happened here. You happened here, and I noticed.

Observation

N° 01

Undated

Ongoing

On the way you laugh.

There's a half-second pause before it actually lands — a small, unguarded breath where your whole face decides. I have caught myself saying small things just to set it off. I would say a thousand more. But pamwe pacho soo kaa. Like in church i would see kuti uyu akutoda zvekubvaruka hahaha

Catalogued in real time

Observation

N° 02

Undated

Ongoing

On your quiet kindness.

You give it as if it costs you nothing, when I know exactly what it costs. You hold space for people without making them feel held. It's the rarest thing I've ever seen up close — soft on the outside, steady all the way through. Wanted to add kuti chiita uchindipao but thank you for the gold (zig).

Studied at length

Observation

N° 03

Undated

Ongoing

On your attention.

When you listen, you actually listen. You remember the small, unimportant details I forgot I told you, and you bring them back later like they were always yours to keep. It's a kind of love I didn't know was possible to give just by paying attention. Asi zvimwe zvacho zvichandirovesa so unaita uchikanganwa

On permanent display

Observation

N° 04

Undated

Ongoing

On your presence.

Rooms are different when you're in them — I don't know how else to put it. The temperature of an afternoon shifts. It's not that you fill space; it's that space arranges itself around you. I would rearrange mine, gladly, as many times as it takes.

Centerpiece of the collection

Everyday A·01

Your good-mornings.

They arrive on time, steady and generous, with no occasion attached. Such a small thing, and it re-orients my whole day. Asi pamwe anonoka hawo kkkk.

Daily / unprompted

Everyday A·02

A shared table.

You make a small table feel like an event. The food is incidental. It's the conversation between bites, the kundidyisa parts, the way you steal a chip without asking — all of it.

Recurring / no reservation needed

Everyday A·03

The goodnights.

The one that takes forty minutes to actually end kana ndakunzi usaende. The world gets smaller when I'm with you, and somehow more interesting at the same time.

Five more minutes / always

Everyday A·04

A private dialect.

A look. A single word. Whole conversations folded into a syllable. No one else gets it — that's exactly what makes it ours.

Untranslatable / by design

Everyday A·05

Your hands.

When you're explaining something you care about, they speak before you do. I could watch the rehearsal forever and never need the play.

Best supporting performance

Everyday A·∞

Everything else.

Every small, unrecorded thing too quiet to fit on a wall and too important to forget. The list keeps growing, on its own, with no help from the calendar.

Still being noticed

Folio III — The Letter

a letter,
for no reason
in particular.

From the desk of T. Re: you, unprompted

Mi Cielito,

I'm writing this for no reason in particular. There's no occasion attached, no card-shaped slot it's trying to fill. It just felt true today, and likely tomorrow too, and I wanted it down somewhere you could come back to whenever the world feels loud.

I love you in the simple ways and in the loud ones. I love you on the days you're sure of yourself, and just as much on the days you aren't. I love the specific sound of your laugh, the way you look at things you find beautiful, the gentleness you offer the world without ever keeping count.

You don't have to do anything to earn it. You don't have to be having a good day, or a good week, or even a good thought about yourself. The love is already here. It's been here. It's not waiting on a date or a milestone — it just is, on a Tuesday, on a Sunday, at 3pm, at 3am.

I will keep choosing you on the bright days and the boring ones. That's the whole letter. The rest is just signature.

I love you. No reason. Every reason.

Signed

— Tadiwanashe Basil

Anodiwa, Locadia.

i love you, for no reason in particular.

you, indetail.

On the way you laugh.

On your quiet kindness.

On your attention.

On your presence.

Your good-mornings.

A shared table.

The goodnights.

A private dialect.

Your hands.

Everything else.

a letter, for no reason in particular.

i love you,
for no reason
in particular.

you, in
detail.

a letter,
for no reason
in particular.