Silent Confession

I hold these words beneath my tongue, A weight I cannot dare to speak, For love, to me, is barbed and cold, A wound too raw, a heart too weak. Each glance, a dagger cloaked in warmth, Each smile, a chain I cannot break, For what is love but hollow light, That steals the soul, a sweet mistake? I’ve danced this dance with ghosts before, Felt the fire, then the freeze, Watched affection turn to ash, And learned that love brings no release. Yet here I stand, on trembling ground, With feelings clawing at my skin, I want to speak, but trauma screams— To love is loss; to lose, a sin. So I stay silent, eyes cast low, Letting the moments pass us by, For in my chest, a storm resides, And every whisper is a lie. You think I’m cold, you think I’m distant, But you don’t see the battle fought, Between the longing and the fear, Of loving more than I’ve been taught. I’m terrified of being seen, Of giving all, yet breaking more, So I’ll stay here, in shadows deep, And love you from a distant shore. For in this silence, there’s control, A shield to keep the pain away, Though love may call, I will not answer, For I’ve been taught to hold it in