The Love That Never Was

I traced forever in your skin,

but you were never mine to keep.

Love slipped through my fingers,

soft as whispers, sharp as loss.

You kissed me like a promise,

but left me like a lesson.

And I-

I stayed,

like a fool waiting for a door.

that would never open again.

You were the dream I woke up from,

the warmth I still reach for

in an empty bed.

I scream your name in silence,

write you in poetry,

carve you into the spaces

where my heart still bleeds.

But love is not love

If it must beg to stay.

And I am done

begging for ghosts.