I've counted the days in whispers,
measuring the silence between us like broken glass.
You linger like the petrichor after the rain,
a reminder of something that should've been washed away.

I've traced your name in dust,
the even consonants and odd vowels.
hoping the wind would carry it,
and let it vanish the way we did.

I look for you in crowded rooms,
like a dream I never wished to wake from.
but I just find you in my thoughts,
you come back too often, too close.

so if you're not mine to keep,
may God keep you away from me.