I wish you knew
How much of me disappears
Every time I choose silence over truth.
I swallow your name
Like a wound that refuses to close,
Smile through conversations
That never includes what matters most.
I wish loving you hurt less,
But pain is the only proof
That this was real,
That I never imagined it.
I watch you belong to a life
That will never make room for me,
And I practice letting go
While my heart still reaches out.
I wish I could stop hoping—
But hope is cruel,
And it stays
Long after I’ve learned
I was never meant to.

.    .