Free Verse Poem
I have to let you go,
and it feels strange
saying that
when I barely had you at all.
One night.
A few words.
Not enough to build a love,
but just enough
to feel its shadow.
Everything in me wants to say stay,
though the realist in me
knows there’s nothing here
to hold onto.
Still,
I’ve carried you
like a whisper tucked inside my chest-
quiet,
persistent,
aching.
I told myself it was nothing,
just a flicker,
just a moment.
But it’s lingered longer
than I ever meant to let it.
You were a passing flame,
but you lit something in me,
something that hasn’t quite
gone dark again.
We were strangers
with timing that betrayed us.
Two lines
that barely touched
before diverging.
And maybe you never even felt it.
Maybe it was just me,
reading poetry into the void.
Yet still
I remember the way
you held me so tightly.
And if someday you remember me,
if you ever wonder
why a part of you feels
slightly less alone at night,
just know:
I was there.
Not for long,
but long enough
to care.
And even from this distance,
even in the quiet you’ll never hear,
I’ve been cheering for you.
In the dark corners
where my feelings hide,
I’ve wished for your joy
like it was my own.
Maybe one day I’ll tell you.
I’ll share all the poems
you’ve inspired,
all the words I never said
because it was never the right time.
Even though I’m letting you go
with both hands open,
you’ll always be
the softest ache,
the almost
I never quite forgot.
My what if,
my maybe.
The Altar 