Forgive me for the silence.
I drifted, lured by the chorus
Of shoulds and musts,
those hymns of the hollow-hearted.
They called it living.
But it led me far from life.

How strange it is,
to meet you again.
Like an old friend in forgotten woods.
The world was loud without you.
Empty, though full of noise.

Come, soul.
Let me see the places that hurt.
Let me sit beside your bruises.
I won't leave again.
Not this time.

I am my own
Best friend I’ll
Always be here
If I have nobody to
Accompany me we
Can make our own jokes
With ourself and
Laugh until our ribs
Are aching and
We can mark ourself
With things we
Love and when I’ve
Never felt so alone at
Least I’ll always have
Her
Who is always
Me we are
The same and yet
There are forever
Two of us
I love her so
There should be no
Denial of things she
Loves too I’ll
Let her do what
She wants and
She’ll show me how
To be happy
With her

I was working
For a promotion at my job.

Before it could happen,
The job I had quit—
The one that hurt me so much—
Wanted me back.

I said no.
I could never return
To a place
That wounded me so deeply.

The cards now say
You’ll come back,
That you’ll miss my love.

I will say no.
It would be an insult to myself
To go back to someone
Who hurt me
So much.

The past calls us back
Before the future brings
Something better.

I was never addicted.
I was always starved for affection—
That pleasure I tried to find
Here, in my core,
Was only an attempt to rescue
The girl in her old bed
In that house filled with
Violence,
Neglect.

Where no one ever told her a story
Before she fell asleep,
Where no one ever said
“Good night,
Sleep with God.”

Today,
She’s feeling her way along the walls
Of her cold house,
Trying to find
The path back home.

—It was always about
Feeling loved.

People think i’m sensitive
They don’t know my battles
They don’t know what i’ve been through and what i’ve emerged from
They don’t know how strong I am
If I’m sensitive
Then being sensitive is the strongest of all

One day,
I asked you to save me.

And I realized
It was I who would save myself.
But I got lost—
It was only words,
Empty from my lips.

Now,
I have truly saved myself.
I’m still learning
To save myself every day.

And now I ask you:
Walk beside me,
As my partner,
As someone who will share this life with me—
Not as someone
Who must save me from myself.

I no longer need
A rescue.