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742 · Nov 2015
choked up
honest Nov 2015
some time ago
you'd be in front of me,
look at me and put on a smile
that i thought was sincere at the time,
and i'd sit there unable to bring myself to speak.

it started
when you looked
at me with those icy blue eyes
with your blonde hair under the sunlight
and smiled at me like I had so much
to give you.

i'm sorry i gave you so
much of nothing
and i'm sorry i wasted your time
with sappy lines
that you probably make fun of now.

i thought i was long over it
but there wasn't really a bridge i could cross
and the water was deeper than i anticipated
and i didn't know how to swim,
but i swear i tried and tried.

even now, when you were on the other side of the room,
so happy,
our eyes met, and your eyes had never been
so cold.
i couldn't come up with enough synonyms to tell you how i was
so speechless.
when you stared my way for a second, could you tell i was
so empty?
and when you faintly remembered i existed your smile felt
so missing.

but i can't find the words i lost
or spit out the words still stuck in my throat.
it was just a glance, but if you cared
you'd be able to tell i'm still trying and trying
to forget and look at you like i would anyone else.

but even when i go to all these places
to clear my head,
all that runs through my mind
are the things i can't forget.
#j
449 · Nov 2020
dreams
honest Nov 2020
the nightmares don't phase me for long because i'm relieved when they're over

what haunts me is waking up from the dreams where i have everything

it's losing what i never had that leaves me empty

i can't tell what makes me more frustrated:
how realistic these peaceful dreams can be
or how naive my mind is to mistake these fantasies

as reality
honest Jun 2022
past regret,
imaginary happy endings,
people i'm no longer familiar with (but still think of),
what i would do differently,
& metaphors that can convey: "i wish you were here,"

are all that occupies my head nowadays,
and i can't decide if my mind defaults back to this or if these things prevent me from thinking about anything else.
honest Mar 2020
I didn't get a chance to say
I was enamored with how honest you were to me
and how trusted you made me feel
when you told me the small things about you that others wouldn't admit,
like how you judge books by their covers
or dislike people who act like fans of musicians after only hearing their new songs
when you were a fan before they blew up (haha).

Everything about you felt sincere,
so when you said you wanted to be friends
you might have really meant it,
but the last time we spoke face-to-face
the clock in my car had the correct time
and the last time you texted me first
I still had so much to look forward to in 2020.

Since then, I've been in a constant state of in-between focusing on myself and asking you how you've been,
but I don't feel regret when I see you and
I don't feel as sad to see you happy & surrounded.
So I'm relieved,
because what was and could have been is behind me.

But now, I can't shake off this constant habit of comparing myself to you and to the person you wanted me to be.
All I think about now bounces from wanting to be better and feeling like I'll never be good enough (for anyone),
but I thought the same thing before I met you.
#c
honest Mar 2020
i feel like i'm never somewhere in the middle, just high in the moment or down in the dumps

i hardly feel present during the day and always feel like there's something missing when i lay awake at night

but i wake up anyway to a life i don't deserve
with a warm shower and a/c in the summer
so i feel indebted to everything i am grateful for
but when i'm home i don't eat my mom's food without feeling guilty that i haven't done anything to deserve it
and when i'm away i don't answer calls because i get tired of telling my mom not to worry
when really i don't know what i'm doing

yet i'm still counted on to someday finance the life my mom deserves but can't even think ahead further than two weeks
and feel the internal pressure to be a big brother to my siblings but get impatient trying to read along with them

at times i think i'd be more at ease if my family forgot about me and dropped their hopes and expectations that i can't live up to

but all i know is every day i wake up to a life i don't deserve
so one day i hope late nights working will be the reason for the constant bags under my eyes
and that i can find joy in pursuing goals that include repaying debts instead of chasing pleasure in the things i use to procrastinate
honest Oct 2021
arguments we never resolved, the thoughts i couldn't read from you, and late realizations of what we had

no matter what reason i open up my camera roll for, i always happen to scroll back far enough to see photos of us that i still haven't deleted

all we can do now is move on even if we might have wanted things to turn out differently

but for whatever reason it's hard letting go of people who might not exist anymore
120 · Jan 2023
1/8/23
honest Jan 2023
recently i've been a better friend to myself,
accepting that i don't have to replay past situations in my head to rationalize if my actions were fair.

and when i spiral into doubt and regret i reassure myself that i don't have to repeat explanations in my head to try to convince myself that i did the right thing.

i tell myself,
i don't want to love someone
whose love you feel like you have to beg for.
114 · Apr 2023
i could
honest Apr 2023
i could buy new clothes and dress up as somebody i still wouldn't like
i could make my bed and clean my room for the second time this week to ignore the mess still in my head
and i could do all these things to improve myself for a future i still don't have a desire to be in

i could try to cry and maybe feel like i've let things out
i could remind myself of the things i'm grateful for as if it cancelled out all the things that make me feel empty

i confide in my friends who might empathize and we could laugh it off together

but no matter what i do,
no one else will be there with me when i lay in bed trying to fall asleep to the thoughts that make me feel indifferent towards the idea of not waking up
114 · Nov 2022
fear (and insecurity) 1
honest Nov 2022
i hold onto
the way your eyes light up when i call you darling,
how wide your smile looks when i kiss your cheeks,
and how soft your voice gets when you worry about me if i don't sleep well,

but the thought of losing you

makes me feel

so

afraid.

so the second you turn away i get scared i have to wake up from this dream.
and when you say there's nothing wrong i have to force myself to not worry.
and although i'm patient a chill down my spine always tells me that i'm just awaiting another letdown.
honest Jul 2022
if i stop loving you i'll still
cherish the way you looked at me to listen to the words i didn't have to say, because all i could ever do was enjoy the moment with you, with my head empty and my heart full.

if i stop cherishing that, i'll still
appreciate the softness in your voice when we talked about the flaws i had (and still do).

if i stop appreciating that, i'll still
think of you, when others show me compassion and treat me with the care you did.

but if i stop thinking of you,
i don't know what i'd do.
108 · Apr 2020
things change
honest Apr 2020
but we were just kids then, to think
we'd be
our same selves
with the same things
that make us feel

appreciated,
wanted,
loved.

we were younger then, to think
what we craved
or what we needed
wouldn't change
and that

we'd still be important characters
in each other's stories

or one another's sense of euphoria.
107 · Apr 2020
happiness to me
honest Apr 2020
is a reflection of what (and who) is around me
is the absence of worry—of what was, what is, or what's next

happiness to me
is the drive home after hanging out knowing i'll see my friends again later
is living my life without running away from ghosts and obligations

happiness to me
is when the rays of sunlight breach through the sky on a cloudy day
is when my words become honest to someone i just met with no judgement in return
99 · Aug 2022
d r i f t (apart)
honest Aug 2022
we don't have a reason to stay in touch
so when we catch up
i say i appreciate it but
i don't say out loud that reconnecting for a moment
reminds me of how far apart we are now.

there are no hard feelings and when we talk,
you still treat me as if we aren't really strangers.

but it makes me feel regret knowing the only conversations we have and the only ones we'll have left end with

"i hope you're doing well."
honest Aug 2022
i used to want to express what you meant to me
in idioms that could reflect how deeply i felt about you,
like how you put the stars in the sky
or how i thought the sun lent you its warmth when i held you.

but when i think it over,
the words that mean a lot to me are the simple phrases
when my mom tells me to "take care" and
when my kid siblings ask to ride my back.  

so i hold you close and say "i care for you,"
because the words mean more to me than anything else i could think of.
honest Feb 2022
i think about the video games i've bought as an adult trying to relive the joy i felt as a kid

they weren't dreadful to play; i just didn't feel the same playing them as i did before

so i turn off the game and never pick it up again because i don't really have the desire to play anymore

so then at night when i go to bed and even when the day was good

sometimes i romanticize the idea that i could just turn the game off and fall asleep forever

because i'm not curious about the ending anymore
honest Apr 2020
otherwise now,
instead of reading your texts until I fall asleep I replay scenarios in my head
and think about different outcomes where I had kept words unsaid and emotions to myself.

Instead of goodnight texts I just take melatonin
and pretend I'm not hoping you still fall asleep okay and sure of yourself.
honest Jun 2023
periodically during breaks i sit down with two of my coworkers.
i forget what prompted the conversation,
but i told one of my coworkers i could tell he had never been in love before.
he asked, "how do you know if i've never said so?"

i explained it overconfidently,
"well, you've told us before when things start to get serious, you start to pull back. i think, if you've experienced love before, you wouldn't be so afraid to feel it again. but also, if you've experienced it and lost it, i think it would show in your perspectives on life, loss, and relationships."

even though i was right about him, i was probably projecting a little.

maybe never experiencing love "for real" is what keeps me open to it. and for someone else, maybe the pain of losing it is enough reason to not want it anymore.

that could never be me—

i'm not scared to get hurt if things fall through again;
i just want a love that's worth the potential heartbreak.
i don't want fear to hold me back from experiencing this thing called "love."
honest Apr 2020
so when you seemed happier without me

i just thought it was the same thing

but today the sky was so blue

and for once,

the sunlight

didn't remind me of you
honest Feb 2022
i think about the things i'd say
that i wish i could get off my chest
or the things i'd want to hear
to help put my thoughts at rest

but i don't bother to reach out
because you're doing fine
and think there's no point in closure
when the outcome doesn't change
88 · Nov 2021
don't worry, pt. 1
honest Nov 2021
you ask again where i see us in the future,
and all i think of is
"together,"

what i want,
where i'll be,
what i'll be doing,
who i envision myself to become...
i can never foresee anyway of it,

just that you'll be with me.

i look at you and wonder if you had expected me to answer differently.

i think about the uncertainty i've always had,
but no matter where i am,
i always feel like i have something to think of as "home."
and in all the places i've considered home, you're my favorite.
86 · Dec 2020
why i stay up
honest Dec 2020
the thoughts never leave my head,
i just put them on hold.
so at night i stare at my phone until i'm tired so i can go to sleep without having to deal with them.

i don't want to put my phone down
i don't want to think at all
time moves too fast
and i don't want tomorrow to come so soon
so i stay awake and hold on to the second that i have
april '20
80 · Mar 2020
Sometimes,
honest Mar 2020
even on the days I don't feel lonely–I still want to ask you how you're doing (or how you've been).
And I'm getting better at not looking up people that I miss
to see photos I've already seen.
And I've been doing good to avoid reading past texts
to remember how it felt talking to you.

But right now, I hate that
memories of our past conversations are
ECHOES in my head and I hate that
if we're in the same room I feel like I'm not allowed to look in your direction
because in the off chance you catch my glance
I'm scared you'll get the wrong idea and think that I'm still thinking of you when I'm not (or at least not trying to).
Because why would you expect me to be able to get over a person who made me feel the way you did?
honest Mar 2020
it's february now and it's a little warmer but it still snows a little bit every now and then
it's snowing right now and it reminds me of you and me
the snow falling today is slow, peaceful, and just hovering in the air
and at first glance i thought the snow was just floating still
it's calm enough that i can feel warm in its presence

but the snowflakes melt before they hit the ground,
they don't have have a chance to get caught in your hair as decoration while you're walking,
and they're gone before they can outline the branches of the trees, which i think is the beautiful thing about winter

it's snowing right now and it reminds me of us:
heartwarming in the moment, gone before anything beautiful could come out of it
but at least i got to enjoy it for a few moments
honest Feb 2022
i used to think all i had to do to move on was to find someone new

nobody would ever want to to admit that it cuts a little deeper
when they don't make me feel like how i felt with you:

secure, wanted, loved.

i wonder if they find it just as obvious
that when i kiss them

there's that feeling that they're not kissing back
and at some point i refuse to open my eyes because of the fear that theirs are open.

and they say sweet things like you did
and despite wanting to, i can't bring myself to believe
that they mean the things they say like you meant them
76 · Feb 2022
in a bad spot again,
honest Feb 2022
i stay up and
don't want to wake up

check up on people i have no business with

try and eat with no appetite

feel guilt for things i can't control
and feel powerless to handle the things i can

the second i put my phone down
thoughts fill my head and i
pick up my phone again so i can ignore them for a little longer

unhappy with the present,
and dread the future
71 · Apr 17
even if
honest Apr 17
even if i had met you earlier,
before your heart shut itself in to protect you,
you still might not have loved me.

and that's okay.

so i can't be too sad about the circumstances,
when you ask for space
or when you ask if we can slow down
but still,
i want to let you know
you're safe with me.

this isn't me saying i'll wait forever for you to heal
because i deserve to feel love too, with or without you.

this is me saying that
even if you never want to love anyone again,
you can count on me to want you to feel safe, loved, and healed.
honest Dec 2020
i don't think about you as much as i used to
but sometimes i reminisce about what it was like
to be listened to so closely:
the words i said,
what they meant to me,
and to still have your full attention no matter how little it made sense to you.

i've been so much happier since then,
and have repeated that moving on was mutual enough times to believe it
but when the thought passes by,

just for a moment,
i remember how it felt to open up,
see your eyes look back at me,
and hear the reassurance you gave
to make me realize
i could tell you anything about me with no insecurity.

since then, i forgot about you or kept myself occupied enough to think i'm happy enough without you
and oddly enough, find some comfort in realizing
i didn't crave having you
but having someone.

and although,
nights by myself
don't feel like 'nights without you'
anymore,

for another moment,
nights at 9pm start to feel like
2am when i'm alone
60 · May 17
lately more than ever,
honest May 17
i can't help but to take photos of the sky in front and above me.
how blue the sky is, the amount of clouds that occupy it, and how the sunlight touches everything under it,
it keeps me standing in the open in awe

it takes me another second or two to wonder
how this is the same sky i've gazed upon the year prior

i question if the view changed
or if i changed enough to realize how beautiful it is

i can feel the blessings more deeply nowadays
in the the littlest of things
like the joy in the laughs around me,
or how rewarding lemonade tastes at the day's end.

lately more than ever,
to the ones i speak to, i ask if they've been looking up at the sky
hoping they can see and feel what i do.
honest Jun 18
time passes by.
at this point you've been a stranger to me longer
than someone i knew

and yet when i pass by flowers
i remind myself of the only ones you liked
as if i'm trying not to forget and
as if i have any use for the tidbits of information i still haven't thrown away.

but enough time has passed
that i don't feel down from just seeing you,
as if i'm done grieving the ideas of what could have been

after a long while
i stop avoiding the song that we sang in your car,
the song that would have been my most played if
i hadn't stopped listening to it after we stopped talking

most days i'm convinced i don't think of you,
but in either case, i know
time passes by
and the hurt heals (slowly).
honest Jul 9
closer to when we started,
one quiet afternoon, we're laying down and you ask,
"are you sure you like me, or do you like the way i make you feel?"

i think about the difference and your reason for wondering, and say,
"well, anyone important to me makes me feel good to be around them. i like you and how you make me feel."

you think about my answer and say "that's fair,"
in the tone you always have when we talk about us,
gentle and kind-hearted.

you were okay with my answer,
but when the conversation plays back in my head months later,
i think my answer was honest,
but i wish it could have been then
that i decided to say

"don't worry, i love you."
24 · Oct 18
sorrow
honest Oct 18
a feeling of sorrow weighs on me when i wonder if
somebody else would have loved the parts of me i discarded
to be the person i thought you wanted

insecurities i developed while with you
still show on me like tattoos
i have yet to cover

i let go of the part of me that allowed myself to get my hopes up
so instead of feeling hurt i rarely feel anything

but when i start to care for someone
i can't help but to think that somebody else
would be a better fit for them

in the past year i've learned to care for myself a little better but
a feeling of sorrow weighs on me
when i reminisce about my younger self who thought i could be the right person for someone
honest Oct 24
it's easy to fall for someone near the beginning,
because we're allured by new things and the parts we don't know about someone yet
so i don't fault you for asking if i'll get tired of us
when you think there's less to be curious about,
when it's not all new,
or when the images of who we think the other person is
gets replaced with who we actually are.

the same thought crosses my mind,
but then i think out loud and talk about my favorite song:
how years later i still discover sounds or vocals i didn't notice the countless times i played the song before,
how different the experience of listening to it is when i play the song through my car speakers or my headphones,
or how different my favorite song makes me feels when i listen to it on my good and bad days.

i look at you as you listen to my run-on sentences and bad analogies,
and feel comfort that you listened and accepted my answer.
i question to myself if it was a good one, because i thought it was too early to have said the alternative,

that you shouldn't worry, and that i loved you.

— The End —