Thank you, Iorhael, for editing this and for encouraging me to post it. In the Bible verses charity is better translated love, but I put it as it is in the Bible because I cannot edit the Word of God because of the verse in Revelation 21.

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Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Lord of the Rings and am not in any way making a profit off of this story.

Selfless Love

I watch her move gracefully across the room, an ever-present smile on her face. I look, but I cannot have, for my best friend loves her. She is the finest lass in the Shire – hard working, submissive, cheerful, pretty – who could blame one for liking her?

I see the way her face lights up when she sees him enter the room – even her carefully-timed glances at him – and I know she loves him, not I. My best friend is a fortunate lad for such a lass to love him. I am happy for him, yet still can I feel a twinge of envy when I know.

He is too shy yet to speak to her no matter how much I prod him to. He knows not that I love her and needs not ever find out. Only her happiness – and his – matters to me. I can bear losing her as long as it is to him, a worthy, loyal, hard-working hobbit who will love and cherish and provide for her until death parts him from her.

It will be hard, I know, to see them get married (if my friend ever makes an effort to speak), but I shall be both proud and happy to see them wed. There are other things in life than can fulfill just as much as being wed to the lass you love, such as knowing she is happy and well provided for.

I shall never tell her my feelings – that, I have determined since Sam confided in me. I long for him to tell her. Then, I will not speak to her as often, for that will make it, perhaps, a bit easier to let go of my feelings, and for Sam to tell her his.

She is sitting down at a table now, and Sam walks over when I nudge him. She smiles widely, a crimson color rising to her dainty face. Sam begins to speak with a stutter; I drink down the last bit of my water and divert my attention to my cousin entering across the room and let my thoughts dwell on other things.

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I Corinthians 13:4-8, 13

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. … And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

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