Erase My Footprints - A Poem of Parting and Pretended Forgetting

If you must forget me,

Then erase my footprints from your shore.

Let no trace of me remain

On the paths we once wandered together.

Let the wind scatter the dust of my presence,

Let the rain wash away the echoes of my name.

Go ahead,

Wipe away the imprints I left—

On your doorstep,

In your memory,

In the corners of your smile.

And I…

I will teach my heart to believe

That I never touched your world.

Tell the sky we never stood beneath it,

Side by side,

Watching stars bloom like wildflowers in the dark.

Tell the moon we were never lovers

Drenched in silver silence.

Tell time itself to skip those hours,

To forget we ever shared breath.

Say I was never here—

That my voice never trembled

In the hollow of your ear,

That my hand never found yours

In the cold or in the quiet.

You, who once called me beloved—

Now, call me nothing.

Let your lips forget the shape of my name.

Let your heart grow unfamiliar with my rhythm.

Let the scent of me be lost

Like incense in a passing breeze.

If it helps you heal,

Then burn the letters I never wrote.

Rip out the pages of those poems

You never read aloud.

Throw my shadow from your walls—

I’ll pretend it never lingered there.

Take down the constellations

We built from shared glances.

Let the stars be strangers again.

Let the sky be sky—

Empty of meaning,

Free of our story.

If your peace lies in forgetting,

Then forget with all your strength.

Rewrite your history

As though I were never in it.

Paint over every frame

Where I might’ve smiled beside you.

And I…

I will lie to my own soul.

I’ll fold away the ache like an old letter,

And whisper,

*"We never met."*

I’ll bury your name deep in silence,

Where even dreams dare not go.

I’ll unlearn the language

We once taught each other—

Of fingertips and tears,

Of glances held like breath.

I will walk away,

Backward if I must,

So even my absence leaves no trail.

Let the earth rise again

Where my steps once fell—

Untouched, unmarked,

As though I passed like wind

And never stopped to stay.

You can forget me.

You can erase it all.

And I...

I will bow to the lie,

And wear it like truth.

Yes, I’ll believe it—

That I never knew your laughter,

Never drank from your sorrows,

Never held your gaze like it was home.

I will believe

That your arms were never shelter,

That your soul never reached for mine

In the dark

And found it.

So go on—

Erase the signs,

Rewrite the story.

Pretend it was all a passing dream.

And I…

I will nod,

Smile even,

And say softly—

**“Yes… we never met.”**