i never told you
how soft you felt
in a world that never let me rest.
how your voice
felt like a doorway
back to myself.

i wanted to say it
a thousand times
in a thousand ways
but each one
felt too loud
for something this quiet.

because i don’t want to lose
what we are
by reaching too hard
for what we could be.
being near you
even like this
feels steadier
than the best of
what i’ve known.

once,
you looked at me
like the softness
was something
you’d always known was there,
hidden in the static.

and when you told me
you believed
in the kindness
beneath my mess,
your words stayed
longer than you’ll ever know.

maybe one day
i’ll find the stillness
to say aloud
what has only lived in quiet;

that something in me
settled
every time you stayed.
not love,
not yet

just the way your presence
makes me softer
without asking me to be.

just the way your presence
makes the world
less loud
and me
less afraid.