You Returned
You vanish into the night,
without a word, without a trace,
as if you were never more
than a shadow cast by the moon.
The silence you left behind
echoes in the corridors of my mind,
filling the space where your presence once lingered.
Then, like a ghost of the past,
you reappear,
as if nothing had shifted,
as if the time between us
were a mere pause in conversation.
You smile the same smile,
utter the same lovely yet empty words,
but I know –
I am not the same.
In your absence,
something within me unraveled,
threads of a dream I once held tight.
Now, I see the world with different eyes,
and I will not be the man you return to
when the world grows dull,
when your restless heart seeks a refuge
from the boredom that consumes you.
Forgive me for loving you so fiercely,
for binding myself to the image of you
that once danced in my dreams.
But know this:
you can wager on the stars,
bet on the turning of the heavens –
this heart will not open its door again.
No, not for you.
What you find upon your return
is not the man you left behind,
but a stranger,
one who has learned
that some doors, once closed,
should never be reopened.
