i wish i could forget
how your name fits in my mouth
like it was carved there,
how silence never meant so much
until it was yours.

i carry you
like a bruise beneath the skin,
not quite visible,
but every time you touch too close,
i flinch.

i keep pretending
you’re just a friend again.
but your laugh still lands in my chest
like it belongs there.
your golden eyes still say too much,
even when we say nothing.

you are
every almost,
every what-if,
every cruel trick of timing.

i wish i didn’t love you,
but wishing
has never changed the gravity of you,
how you pull me in,
again,
and again,
and again.