leave me now
before the light learns our names
before the walls memorize your breath
go while goodbye is still a door
and not a wound
while silence can pass for mercy

leave me now 
while your absence is still honest
before it sharpens into regret
I can survive the clean cut of an ending
but not the slow ache of almost
don’t stay long enough 
to turn memory cruel
or teach my hands to reach 
for what won’t return

leave me now
not because I am empty
but because I am full of what we were
and there is no room left 
for you to fade gently

I close my eyes and drown out 
the sound of goodbye
pretending silence 
is kinder than the truth
I tell myself this ache 
will soften with time
that absence 
is just another word for rest
but the quiet keeps your shape
lingers where your laughter used to be
and every unspoken thing still hums
a low tide pulling at my ribs
asking me to remember 
what I’m trying to release

I counted the light-years
between your voice
and the silence that followed
even the constellations
turned their backs
as if the sky itself
could not bear witness
but a star collapsed in my chest
gravity is a stranger now
and I am learning how to stand
in a room made only of your absence