If I can’t be your lover,
I’ll be your friend—
no expectations,
just presence,
a steady hand when you need it.

If I can’t be your friend,
I’ll be a contact,
a name you might call when the world feels too heavy,
someone you can lean on
even from a distance.

If I can’t be a contact,
I’ll disappear.
I’ll fade into nothing,
a memory or gone,
but at least I’ll know
I honored your space,
your choice,
even if it means I don’t exist at all.


But what if I can’t honor it?
For my love grows
even when you’re not here.
I fall in love with the memory of you,
with the silence left behind,
with the ghost of a touch I’ll never feel again.

So what am I to become?
A shadow?
A dream that lingers just out of reach?
Or just a fool
clinging to a love
that you’ll never return?