Somewhere Between Saying and Staying

We never said

this was love.

We said

Are you hungry?

Did you get home safe?

Text me when you wake up.

Love lived

in the unspectacular spaces—

the way your coat stayed on my chair,

the way my name softened

in your mouth

only when no one else was listening.

I learned your silence

before I learned your touch.

And even now,

when nothing remains,

my body still remembers

how to wait

without asking.