if you open my chest
you're gonna hear your name
repeated inside
with every beat

even though
there is distance
stretching
between
us


your heart and mine
feel close

I am
whoever you need me to be
I do
whatever needs to get done
I am funny
when you need a good laugh
or serious
when you just want to talk

I'm a different person
every day
who knows
who I will be
today

I don't know
who I am
when I am alone.
Who do I perform for
then?

to be loved
is to be seen
and no one’s ever
looked at me
the way you do
when i dance
for you

to be loved
is to be known
and my heart
only beats
to the rhythm
of yours

to be loved
is to be changed
and i have never
felt
the way i do
for you

years ago
i had presents ready
and stayed up all night
memories ago
i had paragraphs written
and typed out my heart
lifetimes ago
when we were
friends
but today
i sit quietly in the dark
still staying up late
only now
the words barely leave my mind
and get stuck in my throat:
Happy Birthday
i only wish
we’d still talk

somewhere out there
is a version of me
that only exists
in your mind


please hold me dear
please nurture it
please think of me
do not let me go
extinct

i miss you
i’d shout
into the clouds
but it’d turn into fog
for the truth
is becoming ever clearer
i do not miss you
i miss
what we used to be
i miss the version of me
that only you remember