I used to believe in love like a child believes in stars,
Reaching for something distant, something warm,
Something that could guide me home.
But love was a cruel magician,
Making promises vanish before my eyes,
Leaving me grasping at ghosts.
Now, I don’t chase love.
I don’t wait for its whispers,
I don’t hope for its touch.
I have learned to live without it,
But living without it feels like dying a little each day.
Nights stretch long, heavy with silence,
Memories echo where laughter once lived.
The mirror shows a stranger, hollow-eyed,
A soul untouched, untouched for too long.
I tell myself I am fine.
I tell myself this is peace.
But my mind knows the truth—
Loneliness is not the absence of love,
It is the shadow love leaves behind.
