I saw you first through shadow’s haze,
A stranger cloaked in distant gaze.
Your voice, a note of tempered steel,
A tune too sharp for hearts to feel.
The air around you seemed so cold,
A frozen tale of life untold.
I turned away, my judgment made,
Convinced you dwelled within the shade.
I painted you in hues of gray,
A storm that kept the light at bay.
Each glance, I thought, a distant shore,
A heart I dared not venture more.
And so I built a wall of stone,
A fortress where I stood alone,
Unknowing that my careful stance
Would blind me to your hidden dance.
Yet fate, unyielding, has its way;
It turned the night into the day.
Through fleeting moments, cracks appeared,
Revealing truths I once had feared.
Your silence held unspoken songs,
A rhythm where the heart belongs.
Your guarded eyes, though weary, kind,
Reflected depths I could not find.
I saw the strength within your stride,
The battles fought, the scars you hide.
Each word you spoke was edged with care,
A wisdom wrought from pain laid bare.
The laughter soft that broke your face
Became a light I could embrace.
The walls you built began to fall,
And I, too, let go of my wall.
Regret then surged, a stinging tide,
For how I let my fears decide.
The fleeting mask I thought was real
Had veiled the beauty you conceal.
How fragile are the eyes we trust
When bound by prejudice and dust.
I mourned the time that slipped away,
The years lost to a shadow’s play.
But even as I wept the cost,
I found that nothing now was lost.
For in the wreckage of my pride,
I saw the truth I’d cast aside.
The light within you burned so strong,
It taught my heart where it was wrong.
And from that lesson, love was born,
A dawn that broke the longest morn.
Now as I walk through life anew,
I see the world in different hues.
Each face a tale, each heart a song,
Each stranger hiding something strong.
For masks may veil the brightest eyes,
And truth can live in dark disguise.
The heroes I had thought were few
Now stand revealed in shades of you.