I watch the way you fold my world in halves.
you speak riddles in whispers, you persist,
uttering a soft-spoken semaphore, dismissed.
in the cluttered quiet, i catch a glint;
not of meaning, but of what it might’ve meant.

Your laugh coaxes me, it insists upon itself.
half-daring me to speak, to break the spell,
as if the truth could ever serve us well.
you name me danger, yet you stay near;
a moth that feels the burn, but not the fear.

A dance of almosts, steps that never land.
the stars align in patterns made to miss,
i reach for you, yet falter amidst our tryst.
i am untouched and aching still,
but i am hidden deep within steeled will.

-au