"I Loved You in Silence"

I never told you

how I memorized your laugh,

how I counted the seconds

between your smile and my heartbeat.

You never knew

that every time you looked away,

I was still staring,

quietly unraveling.

You belonged to someone else—

and I belonged to restraint.

To the bitter taste

of words I never said.

Love, for me,

was not flowers or fire.

It was the ache

of absence

in your presence.

I loved you

like a ghost loves a home—

quietly,

long after you were gone.

I never told you

how I memorized your laugh,

how I counted the seconds

between your smile and my heartbeat.

You never knew

that every time you looked away,

I was still staring,

quietly unraveling.

You belonged to someone else—

and I belonged to restraint.

To the bitter taste

of words I never said.

Love, for me,

was not flowers or fire.

It was the ache

of absence

in your presence.

I loved you

like a ghost loves a home—

quietly,

long after you were gone.

Description / Author’s Note:

This poem is for the silent love that lives inside us—the one we never confess, but that shapes us anyway. It’s for the moments when your heart is full but your mouth is shut, when you watch someone you love slip away and feel powerless to speak. I Loved You in Silence explores the bittersweet ache of unrequited love, the pain of holding feelings that can never be returned, and the loneliness of loving quietly from the shadows. If you’ve ever loved someone who never knew, this poem is your voice.