The Things I Never Mailed

I wrote you
a thousand times
in my head.

On napkins.
On cracked screens.
On fogged windows.

But I never
pressed send.

Not because
I didn’t want to.
Because I didn’t know
if you'd care.

Or worse
if you'd reply
with silence.

So I folded
my words
into little corners
of my day.

Hid them
under my tongue.
Swallowed
every sentence
like it was
too sharp
to speak.

There are things
you don’t tell people.

Not because
they’re secrets.
But because
they never
asked.

You moved on.
You smiled
with new people.

And I watched
from behind
curtains of doubt.

Still holding
a letter
no one
will ever read.

If you ever wonder
yes,
you mattered.

You still do.
In quiet ways
you’ll never know.