If someone stayed,
I wouldn’t need to be so strong.
I’d let my walls melt,
my silence spill into their arms,
and I’d cry
not out of pain,
but out of relief.
That finally,
someone saw the storm I’ve hidden
behind my soft smile.

If someone stayed,
I’d stop pretending.
I’d stop holding the world
while my own kept breaking.
I’d whisper things I’ve never said out loud

like how empty I feel in a full room,
and how loud the nights get
when I’m the only one listening.

If someone stayed,
I’d hug them and never let go.
Because once someone knows the real me

the soft me,
the shattered me,
the still-loving me…
I don’t ever want to lose that again.

So I stay quiet.
And I hope.
And I whisper to the stars…