Tied To You

I see you from across the room, eyes like storms I can’t undo. I try to speak—my words collapse, they stumble, twist, they never map. I watch you laugh, I feel the knife, cutting holes into my life. I know I’ve hurt you, more than once, but still I come—no defense. I hear your silence screaming my name, like fire I lit, I fan the flame. I know I’m wrong, I know I fail, but every time you leave, I pale. You hate me? Good. I deserve that too. But in the corners of my chest, it’s you. Even when I run, even when I hide, I’m tethered to your shadow, tied. I wish I could rewrite the past, make every moment meant to last. But here I am, still breaking through, still caught in the orbit of you.