you crawl into me like a window left open,
but i’m the one who shivers from the draft.
you get to dream.
i have to stay awake.

two parallel heartbeats
longing for a simple touch.
a tap,
a tremor,
a trace.

a mirage of me that only exists
in the shadow of your gaze.

if time could speak, what would it say about us?
would it whisper mercy,
or call it mistake?

now you move through me like light through lace,
exposing the secrets i buried
in folds of dusk.

i start to wonder, what am i to you?
am i a dream in the darkness,
a pause between heartbeats?

or am i
your almost,
the seraphic calm, edged with wildfire,
a lullaby sung through lips of ruin,
a sin you never meant to keep?

this heart is an unmapped shore for you,
no claim, no right to cast love-lit stones,
and yet, i drown in every ripple you leave.

i never said your name,
but the silence did.