I tried to build a world from quiet moments—  
small, whispered things that barely held their shape.  
But everything ran together,  
blurred like wet ink on skin,  
and I stopped knowing where it started,  
or when it stopped being mine.  

You once asked me what it felt like  
to carry the weight of so much.  
I said it wasn’t heavy—just scattered,  
like leaves caught in the wind,  
never settling, never landing  
where I thought they would.  

But somewhere in the chaos,  
I found stillness,  
a soft gravity that kept pulling me back,  
not to the things I’d lost,  
but to the things that stayed,  
the ones that never needed names.  

There’s a pull to what we don’t say,  
and maybe that’s where the truth rests.  
Not in the grasping, not in the struggle,  
but in the letting go—  
in the acceptance  
that some things are meant to drift,  
to settle in places we never thought to look.  

The edges of this world I’ve made are still rough,  
but now, they feel right.  
I’ve found peace in their sharpness,  
in the way they’ve held together despite the breaking.  
Even the void, it turns out,  
has a sweetness  
when you stop trying to fill it.

Body aches, and soul decays, the ocean stretches wide,
With scorching skies, and burning eyes, I’ve nowhere left to hide,
No wind to kiss these ragged sails, no stars to be my guide,
I drift in silence, hours bleed, the waves and I collide,

The sun, a hammer, beats me down, each breath a broken plea,
The thirst has left my throat a grave, the hunger gnaws at me,
The years, the months, the days are one, the tides my only sea,
Yet still, I wait—though hope is dust—for solace that won’t be,

No whispering wind, no shade in sight, no shadows on the crest,
The horizon mocks me with its calm, my heartbeat begs for rest,
A desert made of salted glass, the end a welcome guest,
I’m lost, I’m worn, I’ve come to know the drowning in my chest,

If these dead waters rise for me, I’ll sink without a sound,
Let ocean’s weight press down my bones, ‘til none of me is found,
For I have nothing left to give, no strength left to be crowned,
And if these seas shall swallow whole, then let me, too, be drowned.

In the quiet, slowly stirring,
Through the night, the dark alluring,
Came a breath, a soft recurring,
Like a sigh upon the air,

Through the woods, the shadows leaning,
Every thought within me gleaning,
Past regrets, now intervening,
Held me captive in despair,

In the stillness, something shifting,
Through the gloom, my fears were lifting,
As if fate, forever drifting,
Led me onward, unaware,

Neither sound nor sight deceiving,
But a sense, a deeper weaving,
Like a thread of truth, believing,
Guided me without a care,

Through the trees, a pathway glowing,
In the dark, a river flowing,
And my steps, now steady, showing,
That the night could not impair,

Yet the breeze, with whispers fleeting,
Told of days beyond our meeting,
Of a time when your heart's beating,
In a world that's bright and fair,

So I walked then, deeply grieving,
From the night, my doubts were leaving,
And the dawn, with light retrieving,
Showed me skies beyond compare,

In the east, the colors blending,
With the dawn, the night was ending,
And the sun, with rays ascending,
Promised hope within its glare,

Yet I knew, beneath this yearning,
As the light was slowly turning,
That the dark, forever churning,
Would return, its grip to share,

For the shadows, always creeping,
In the corners, ever sleeping,
Wait for moments, silent, keeping,
To reclaim what light can't bear,

So though morning breaks, still tender,
In my heart, I can't surrender,
For the night, in all its splendor,
Waits to catch me in its snare.

I don't want to live forever,
I don't want to be flattered,
I don't want the world to know
that I was here and that I mattered,
I don't want any wealth,
I don't want the baubles that it buys,
I don't care if the sun is setting
or if it's morning on the rise,
I don't crave your fleeting fame
Nor the glory that you chase,
I'll not be trapped in moments,
I'll be set apart, no trace,
I do not seek a peaceful life,
I wish not to be "free,"
I want to be as fathomed
and as forgiving as the sea