The Mind

Late night mind that thinks too much

Sometimes I wonder if I speak too rush

Silence has me worry if I need to share

I think about him daily, how much does he care

His passion gets me up, much like his smile,

I hope I make it through his boyfriend trial

Distance is obstacles yet to overcome,

We’re still cooking and will not be underdone

I trace small signs as if they were fate,

A glance, a word, the warmth when we relate

Each laugh feels heavier than it should be,

Whispers of “could he be drawn to me?”

But friendship is steady, its edges defined,

While love plants its seeds inside the mind

I lean too close to shadows of chance,

Mistaking kindness for a hidden romance

The quiet replies echo louder each day,

A mirror of doubt in the things he won’t say

I build up hopes with a fragile thread,

Only to feel them unravel instead

A hollow pause, rejection implied,

The bloom of hope suddenly died

Yet still I fear, more than the loss of touch,

That he knows my secrets—perhaps too much

For even if love is not returned,

The bridge between us should not be burned

Better a bond that will not sever,

Than silence that buries us forever

So here I remain, with a guarded heart,

Friendship intact, though romance departs

The mind still wanders, but learns to stay,

Grateful he hasn’t yet walked away

For love may fade, but truth will bind,

And friendship still steadies the restless mind.

Reflections on the Poem

This piece, The Mind, captures a deeply human struggle: the fragile balance between friendship and love. It is about what happens when emotions evolve without permission—when laughter begins to linger, when kindness begins to feel like something more, and when hope begins to grow where perhaps it was never meant to.

The poem begins with the restless late-night thoughts that so many of us know well. When we meet someone new, friendship often becomes the first bridge we cross. It is safe, it is mutual, it is steady. But sometimes, as the poem shows, the heart cannot help but read between the lines. A smile feels too meaningful, a conversation feels too intimate, a pause feels too weighted.

What makes these moments complicated is not simply desire but uncertainty. The speaker wonders: Do I matter in the same way? Is what I feel only in my head? This is the essence of overthinking, of the mind racing in the silence left between messages or pauses in conversation. The poem explores how hope can twist into anxiety, how friendship can become a mirror reflecting both possibility and rejection.

The middle verses lean into the ache of realization—that what feels like romance may only be kindness, that love may not be returned in the same shape. This is not just rejection but the collapse of imagined futures, a dismantling of threads woven too quickly. The “fragile thread” imagery speaks to this perfectly, showing how easily the mind builds castles out of whispers, only for them to unravel when reality intrudes.

And yet, the closing stanzas carry a softer truth. Though love may not blossom, the fear of loss shifts focus. The speaker worries less about romance and more about preservation: the preservation of connection, of trust, of friendship. Because once someone has been let into your world—your secrets, your hopes, your doubts—their absence feels heavier than the absence of love itself.

This is the paradox of vulnerability. To share ourselves deeply with another person is always a risk. When it is met with affection, it feels like flight. When it is not, it feels like falling. But even in the fall, the poem insists on choosing care. To hold onto friendship is to acknowledge that intimacy can exist outside romance, that not every confession must end in loss.

Why This Story Matters

So many of us carry these kinds of hidden narratives. A friendship grows, a spark is imagined, and the heart wrestles with the truth of what is versus the dream of what could be. Sometimes those dreams fade quietly. Other times they collapse loudly. But what remains—the choice to protect friendship—is a reminder of resilience.

The Mind is not just about unrequited feelings. It is about bravery. It is about learning to speak, to risk, to reveal, and then to accept what comes after. Even when hope dissolves, even when romance does not answer back, there can still be beauty in the bond that survives.

In the end, the mind may wander, but friendship can anchor it. Love may change shape, but care endures. And sometimes, that is the truest form of love after all.