“A Forgotten No”

My thoughts of you became constant reminders of how little you may have truly cared.

You gave false hope to the reality I created around you.

You allowed me to perceive you beneath a light that seemed generous, romantic, and thoughtful of others. Unfortunately, I fell through the webs of contradiction between the person I perceived and the person your actions eventually revealed.

Your temporary “yes” was only a notion; a glimpse into a waking state of romance that was never going to happen.

Maybe it was meant to comfort me in the moment, but in the end, that “yes” revealed itself as nothing more than a forgotten “no.”

I wish my feelings and my heart had never wrapped themselves around the idea that your intentions toward dating were aligned with mine. Unfortunately, just like the others, you became something like a passing cloud . A cloud beautiful enough to stop and admire, but never something that intended to stay.

I was a fool to believe I ever had a chance with you, or perhaps with any of the men before you, because our intentions toward love were always parallel. I kept waiting for the lines to intersect, only to realize they were never traveling toward the same destination at all.

I became baffled by how God continues to place men in my path who make me question not only my belief in love, but my belief that love could ever find me.

And somewhere within all of this, I realized something else:

My presence may have been appreciated, but my thoughts, my feelings, and the reality of my own life never seemed to hold the same importance as yours. Your thorny path through life always seemed to require understanding, patience, and consideration, while mine remained somewhere in the background.

And I cannot fathom entertaining, or envisioning a future with, someone who makes me feel that my inner world deserves less consideration than his own.

I wish my soul had never blossomed a rose filled with hope, curiosity, and dreams of what could have existed between us.

Because now that rose feels foolish for ever believing it could survive in soil where it was never meant to be planted.

I was a fool to believe your eyes could ever envision me through the lens I desperately wanted to be seen through.

I wanted you to look at me and see possibility of the following:

Romance.

Tenderness.

Someone worth choosing.

But I was wrong.

Your eyes were never looking through the same lens of romance.

And perhaps that is what hurts the most;

you were just like the others.

“Through a Different Lens”

The burrow of pain shocked my stomach once I heard those words slip out of your mouth.

It left me feeling defeated to know that you may never see me through the lens of romance because casual was your desire all along.

I allowed myself to dream of a life full of flowers, cuddles, cheers, and many more harmonious adventures that I thought were possible for us to share together. I was wrong. Those hopes and wishes shattered and were placed into a room filled with an empty void; a room I no longer wanted to open.

My heart was in disbelief at your expectations of dating culture because they did not align with what my eyes had imagined.

For that reason, my stomach had to release the pillows of butterflies.

For that reason, my voice no longer felt the chains wrapped around it whenever I saw you.

For that reason, I no longer felt the desire to believe that one day a flower could blossom between our hearts; that our paths could intersect instead of always remaining parallel.

I cannot fathom the recoil of pain my heart has undertaken from this. It has left waves of sorrow flooding my eyes, while my thoughts begin connecting every past attempt at finding love and labeling them as failures.

Maybe even seeing you now will become a reminder of another failed attempt in this painful cycle.

I cannot relinquish the amount of sorrow living within me in a single day, so I know I have to break it apart and carry it day by day.

I really thought the possibility of us, the possibility of two, was a chance for my misfortunes in finding the one to finally be over.

But maybe I was given a blessing that remained incognito until the moment it ruptured my spirit of love and romance.

I know I will heal the sorrow within my heart and mind. Unfortunately, I am unsure how long that healing will take.

But most importantly, I wonder:

Will I ever try again?

Will I ever confess my feelings for someone again, knowing they may never see me through the lens of romantic love, but only as a casual embrace?

Will I ever allow the butterflies to return, knowing how painfully they can leave?

“The Hour Before You”

I carry the weight of a thousand pillows against my stomach,
because that is what it feels like in the pit of me during the hour before I see you.
Every time.

I dream of moments I wish would happen,
imagining how they might unfold
good or bad.

My heart races with every flutter
when your warm touch finds my shoulder, my foot, or any part of me.

I cannot fathom how I am supposed to slowly process the moment your eyes lock onto mine
when I can barely control the pulsating beats of my heart
or the thoughts already racing through my head.

I couldn’t tremble the words out
because I feared the possibility
that the ending I had already imagined
might become real
if I dared to confess what I feel.

But I don’t want to hold myself back
from another possibility anymore,
regardless of all my careful reasoning
or the fear that comes with finally speaking
the truth of my feelings for you.

I only wish I had the strength to conquer that fear,
no matter how this could unfold;
whether beautifully or painfully
but especially if the answer turns out to be the one I fear
after I finally unfurl the map of my affection before you.

I wonder how I became so smitten
by the ambiguous acts of kindness
you have shown me again and again.

And I wonder why I keep locking myself
out of even the possibility of affection.

Is my fear of rejection
constricting my ability to weave the words
for everything I have been longing to say
everything I have been longing to feel?

I have tried to spread my feelings thin,
yet my heart has only widened
after every fleeting moment I get to spend with you.

I know I must eventually relinquish
these secret tides of devotion I have kept for you.

But when I finally let them reach the shore,
will I recover if your tides don’t rise to meet mine?