You Never Knew

This…

was only a date —

just one page in our story,

the day we met again

after years apart.

But how would you know —

how many dates came before it?

Dates buried in silence,

when I searched for you

with breaking hope

and empty hands.

You never knew —

how many nights

I sat with the ache

of not finding you.

You never knew —

how I chased your shadow

in every stranger’s face,

in every street

we once walked.

You were living

in another world,

content with the belief

that I wanted to be far from you.

But the truth was —

I only said goodbye

to protect your name

from becoming

a curse on your own lips.

You thought I let go.

But I was only holding on —

in the only way I could.

Quietly.

Painfully.

Alone.

You smiled when we met again,

unaware of the wounds

that brought me to that moment.

You never saw

those secret dates,

the ones without anniversaries —

dates filled with failed prayers,

silent letters,

and trembling hopes.

I was never far,

just hidden in the hurt.

While you moved on,

I remained

lost in days

where your absence

felt louder than any goodbye.

So no —

you never really knew

what it took to let you go,

and how every step away from you

was taken

for you.