If I Were Braver, I Would’ve Stayed

If I were braver,

I would’ve stayed—

not for the easy days,

but for the ones when your silence

sounded like thunder.

I would’ve held your hand

without pulling away

when things got too heavy.

I would’ve said

“I don’t know how to fix this,”

instead of pretending

it wasn’t broken.

But I wasn’t brave.

I ran from the weight of your love,

the kind that asks you

to stand still and grow.

Now I write you poems

instead of good mornings,

because

this is all I have left

of the life I was too scared

to live.

---