Fading Love

We built this life in tandem steps, Through quiet dawns and long regrets. Your hand in mine, through storm and song I thought our bond was iron-strong.   But time, it shapes and sometimes breaks, The vows we swore, the love it takes. I see it now, in how you gaze At strangers passing through your days.   Those eyes once lit by only me Now wander, seeking what might be. Not malice, no—just distant skies, The hunger in a lover’s eyes.   You smile, but not the way you did, When love was fierce and nothing hid. Now silence fills our dinner plates, And something colder guards the gates.   I ache, not from a single lie, But from the slow, soft drifting by Of every look, each careless word, The dreams we had, now barely heard.   Thirty years—a life, a name, Yet I am not who fans your flame. You’re here, but reaching out to more, A ghost who lingers by the door.   And though I weep, I understand, Desire does not heed command. Still, part of me will always stay Where once you loved me, yesterday.