The noise upstairs can’t be reigned in
A breath of silent air, a look to my steed.
Like a knight off to war, a countdown from ten
My demons chase daily, doubt planted, a seed

Nine words to split my heart is all it would take
“Just leave me alone. I don’t love you anymore.”
Just irrational emotion, but I feel anger and hate
This final phrase as I walk out the door.

Eight paces away, I step onto my ride
The visceral growl, now broken the quiet
Two wheels beneath, in the machine I confide
Awake and aware, required to pilot.

The sins, seven deadly, they leer and they whisper
The visor hides panic, my heart grows tired
Six words of my own, “Why do I still love her?”
My eyes stream tears, my face is on fire.

My thoughts, a hammer, was that all I meant?
Onto the freeway, five fingers roll the throttle
For this can’t be how our story finds its end
I cry. Raw emotion breaks from its bottle

Three times I have fallen for the same ploy
Faster and faster, the skyline becomes a blur
In traffic I hide, a terrified little boy
It chases, I race, uncertain, unsure

Too apathetic to care, like a jet on the ground
The terror of love haunts all around
The wind roars past, I begin to blackout
I scream and close my—

One text.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. Please come back. I love you.”
I let go of the throttle, the scenery now vivid
In my heart and soul I know that it’s true.
As the bike cools off, I return to her quiet and timid.

An argument no more, we talk through it and explain
At peace, we kiss, lay down, and promise never again.

He’d call me into the bathroom
Pinch my arm
Or find cut on my skin
And rub alcohol on it
“Doesn’t that feel good, Liana?”
He’d say

I knew I only had one option
And that was to say yes

They say there's no thing as true love,
Humans are also fondly known to lie,
I just can't believe it,
Not after knowing you.

I can't say it enough times,
I need something more to really let you know,
I yearn for you,
You are a necessity.

Even when times get dark,
We light each other up,
Even when they plant seeds of doubt,
We sprout even brighter than before.

We grow, we love,
We tire, we sleep,
We rest, we're restless.
I think, I think of you.

I'm sitting outside.  
The air smells like old dreams
like wet soil and cracked pavement after a storm,  
like rustling leaves that once sounded  
like lullabies  
before I even knew what pain was.

It smells like the quiet corners of childhood  
I used to hide in,  
where sunlight poured through tree branches  
like stained glass,  
and the world  
just for a moment
felt safe.

It smells like the day I first realized  
I didn’t need to be anything  
to be loved.  
Not smart,  
not strong,  
not impressive.  
Just… here.

Back then, I belonged to the wind,  
to the soft hum of bees in the distance,  
to the ants weaving stories through grass blades.  
I didn’t have to earn my place.  
No one was counting.  
I was alive
and that was the miracle.

Now I understand why it felt like home.  
Nature doesn’t ask for reasons.  
It doesn’t assign value.  
It just is
and in its presence,  
so was I.

I think happiness lives there,  
in the child I buried under performance.  
The one who laughed  
just because the clouds were shaped like animals,  
who believed puddles could be oceans,  
who never asked  
“Am I enough?”
because enoughness had not yet been sold.

That child still lives in me,  
beneath the weight of doing and proving,  
beneath all the names I gave myself  
just to be loved.

Maybe the secret is to find him again
to sit in stillness,  
and let the world fall away  
until all that’s left  
is the sound of leaves,  
the smell of sky,  
and the feeling  
of being alive without permission.

He’s still there,  
quiet,  
waiting,  
barefoot in the grass.

And the wind hasn’t forgotten him.

No love is true or false
Love is love
Same for all
Sacred and pure.

It is just that
Some people love and
some only pretend.