The Architecture of Our Ashes

We used to argue in the heat of noon,

When tempers flared like suns, and yet,

The friction was a spark that kept us warm.

Even in our loudest misunderstandings,

There was a gravity that pulled us back

A desperate, sweating hope that we were worth the noise.

 

​I remember the salt of those days,

The way your eyes would catch the light

Even as you turned away.

We were a storm, yes, but we were home.

I built my days around the cadence of your breath,

Thinking every sacrifice I made was a brick

In a fortress meant to keep you safe.

 

​But silence is a slower, colder thief.

You woke today with winter in your marrow,

Looking through me as if I were a mirror

Of everything you’ve learned to hate.

"You are a monument to yourself," you said,

Calling my protection a prison,

And my silence, a wall of pride.

 

​How strange, to watch the bridge collapse

While I am still standing in the middle.

The things I did to keep us whole

Are the very stones you throw to break me.

To you, I am the center of my own world;

To me, I was only ever the moon,

Orbiting a light that has finally gone out.

 

You loved a version of me that didn't exist,

A perfect ghost who’d never disagree.

But in chasing the "ideal" you always missed

The real man standing here, and who I could be.

My flaws weren't a wall, but a place to start

If you’d only accepted my unique design,

We could have grown together, heart to heart,

And polished the life that was already mine.