After a Long Silence

We meet again
after a long silence.
Your face carries years
I never touched,
your eyes hold storms
I never calmed.

Time carved distance
between us,
but still
your voice
is a knife in my chest.

I thought forgetting
would save me,
but when you spoke
the air broke,
and every memory
came running back
like wolves
to the bone.

Do you remember?
The nights we whispered
secrets too heavy
for the daylight.
The laughter
that echoed
against walls
we swore
would never collapse.

And yet
they did.
We collapsed too.

I carried your absence
like a chain,
like a shadow
that never slept.
I swore
I would never bleed
for your name again.

But here I am,
bleeding in silence,
pretending the years
didn’t matter,
pretending
your voice
didn’t undo
everything
I built without you.

You smile,
but it is not the smile
I knew.
It is colder,
distant,
like a stranger
wearing the mask
of someone
I once loved.

We stand there,
two broken flames,
not knowing
whether to burn again
or finally
let the ashes
rest.