I gave so much of me away
that even my name felt borrowed.
I wore smiles like borrowed dresses.
Stitched with seams of sorrow.

But in the silence after you left,
I found a room inside my chest 
dusty, aching,
but mine.

Now I sit with myself like an old friend,
the one I abandoned for love.
And together, we light candles,
in all the places I once forgot.

.    .    .