today was like most days,
we lay together in my bed.

skin to skin.
heart to heart.

your head resting on my chest,
our breaths syncing onto one rhythm.

you held me so tight,
with such love and care.

the only difference today,
from all the days before,

was that today,
you wiped my tears as they fell.

and today,
i wasn't your girlfriend.

yet you still looked at me
with the same love in your eyes.

maybe even more.

You and your romantic ways, your countless list of reasons, your lovely lilac haze
Shadowed only by your fears there's not a universe where I stay.

Battled me.

And all my disarray
The timing and the distance, my thoughts that force resistance.
My lack of patience sure put up a fight, and mix her with my temper and we'll be here all night.
My fear, always ready to run, pulling me back behind the wall I built, away from the warmth of your sun.

I never lost faith in love, I was just scared
All around me I felt the loss in the air
The spring always baffled me;
For the winter was never there
In the basket of life, I felt the dread drawing near
The anticipation was vexing for a simple guy lying bare

I lost touch with my hobbies
I lost touch with my buddies
I lost being that funny guy
Who spoke so angelic; Truly Euphoric with a good sense of that comedic relief
I lost….
Lost the confidence, lost being the player
Lost my patience and a head full of loose screws
Time healed the wound but what about the ruse?
What about those sentiments? What about the bruise?
What about those promises? What about the cruise?
I was a little negligent but, what about you?

You talk about promises but all you do is ruse.
You talk about sentiments but all you do is refuse.
You talk about amendments but all you do is bruise.
You took away the sobriety and let it all loose
You took away the honesty and you took me for a fool
All I ever wanted I was to fall in love, thought you were the muse
I never lost faith in love, I just got used like a tool
                                                                                     -Asher Graves

My stomach does that thing—
you know, when the ghost
rests a hand there.
Not a hit.
Just a hush,
and fingernails.

Like it never left.
Like I’m the one
who forgot to feed it.

It’s always at dawn.
Or mid-laugh.
Or in line at the dollar store—
buying nail polish I’ll chew off by Tuesday
and an eyelash curler,
just in case he sees me
from across a decade.

Then you paraglide in—
a salesman who knew I’d be home.
And the floor remembers
what I worked so hard to forget.

And I gasp—like I tripped.
But I didn’t.
I remembered.

I remembered
the ghost
you left me to raise alone.

Like:
“Hi. Just passing through.
Don’t stress on my behalf.”

I nod.
And I don’t.
I keep chewing the same nail.
My eyelashes are curled.
My stomach still does that thing.

You know the one.

A rose she stands, so soft, so bright,
Knowing well the coming night —
The winds will tear, the storm will rise,
And close forever her gentle eyes.

Yet still she blooms without regret,
Her petals kissed by sun still wet —
She lives for love, she sways with grace,
And meets her end with a quiet face.

Not fearing loss, nor fighting fate,
She fills her hours, though brief, though late —
With peace, with hope, with colors spun,
And love — until her days are done.

A wandering soul, so lost, so wide,
Drifting through shadows where dreams reside.
For ages it wandered, through time and through space,
Seeking the moon, its soft silver grace.

One day it found, in a small stream’s glow,
A reflection of the moon, a light to bestow.
It wept in silence, the tears soft and deep,
For the love it had lost, for the promises it couldn't keep.

The willow tree sighed, its branches low,
The soul sat beneath, where the cool winds blow.
"I've loved the moon," it whispered, "for eons untold,
But I’m trapped on Earth, bound by a cold hold."

"Why must I remain in this world so dark,
While the moon shines above, like a dream, a spark?"
The willow wept softly, its leaves fell away,
As the soul, in silence, longed for the day.

It gazed at the moon, its heart filled with grace,
But forever imprisoned in the Earth's embrace.
A soul with no home, no body, no name,
Only a love that would never be the same.