the first echo of your voice was a spark
through silence, half a sentence, half a dream;
i searched for meaning in each pause,
a language of hesitations, softened breaths,
teaching me longing begins in sound.

your voice shaped my mornings as the rays
filtering through my window, painting the sheets
with the reverence of your smile, your laugh,
my grin breaking as the dawn crests the pine
where we first traded words.

the same pine where shoulders and hands and
fingers first brushed with the delicacy of frost,
where you first cradled my head in your lap
and whispered words like a balm,
a salve for my weary mind.

i remember when you stopped sharing the bed
and started claiming it, hair sprawled across my chest,
fingers tracing the letters of each unspoken vow,
a bleary yawn, a careless snuggle,
making me dread the day’s departure.

my fingers toy with the emerald pendant at my collarbone,
a smile playing at my lips as i recall how you shook;
“it was just something i found,” you stammered,
while its reflection caught my mind already fixed
on the colors of the gaze i fell for in a heartbeat.

your silver ring shimmers as that gaze once did,
a reminder of my clumsy show of indifference
to the same piece you now roll between your fingers,
your lone tell when you refuse to admit
how giddy our time still makes us both.

each reflection of the modest band recalls
that first campfire, smoke overpowered by
your shampoo, a scent i never could name,
a dizzying drone overwhelming my judgement
as you shot me that sidelong glance.

or the pier, when your cheeks flushed auburn with
the sunset as i told you “i only bring people i like to this spot”,
your reply failing, drowned in a nervous laugh,
our gaze darting between each other and the horizon,
a silence heavier than the rippling tide.

i won’t apologize for the little quirks:
holding your bags as you skip the mall corridors with glee,
or how you insist on waking me with waffles
each sunday, that knowing grin across your face
as i feign resistance.

because for you, i’d carry burdens like discarded heels,
your heart still bearing the weight of the world
yet feeling light, ethereal, fleeting all the same;
i’d cross the ends of the earth just to once more
share a sacred moment beyond ordinary speech.