Can’t hold onto anyone’s time—
 their life is out of your hands.
But still, we all take these
   steps of being so etched in
somebody’s memory—
     like footprints in the sand.

I keep counting all the time I
  tried to hold onto the past,
 without a watch in my hand.

Watch the moment pass—
 tense, sinister in tenacity.
  A voracious hour—
      feeding off  what I didn’t say,
    what I left behind.
      Art quietly buried in my mind.

And all those things I thought
were gone— they love to
  reappear as a new regret.

Still transparent. Still off-putting.
But put off those mistakes—
  and put on the lessons.
Be beautiful in your time.
Not perfect. Just worth building.

They’ll write it down— the inspiring
  story of how you rose,
 even when time kept slipping
      through your hands.

Hey, younger me,
wipe those tears—yes, I see them.
You think love will last just because it feels endless,
but listen, not everything meant forever stays.
And that’s okay.
Not all wilted petals mean the flower was unworthy,
some were just never meant to be held too tight.

And you, future me,
are you smiling? Have you learned to breathe?
Tell me, did we finally stop carrying the weight of every goodbye?
Did we find softness in the mirror,
or are we still chasing ghosts of what could’ve been?
I hope we learned to love without fear,
to rest without guilt,
to speak without swallowing the words.

And me, standing here,
torn between the aching past and the uncertain tomorrow—
What do I do with all this?
With the lessons, the heartbreak, the hope?
I guess I keep walking,
one step for the child who dreamed,
one for the future waiting ahead,
and one, just one,
for the me that exists right now.