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Quiet Fear Beneath the Want

What If?

By Autumn StewPublished 10 months ago 1 min read
Quiet Fear Beneath the Want
Photo by Matthew Ansley on Unsplash

What if the love you give is only borrowed time?

I've known the way devotion turns and learns to bruise.

I hold my breath, trust you, soft, fragile, and mine.

-

Your kindness is so steady, it could almost be a sign,

yet memory shrieks warnings I can't easily refuse.

What if the love you give is only borrowed time?

-

You say you aren't the ones who taught my hope to climb

only to cut it loose and hand the hurt an honest excuse.

I hold my breath, trust you, soft, fragile, and mine.

-

I am careful with the doubt that settles in my spine,

the fear that love can bloom before it starts to lose.

What if the love you give is only borrowed time?

-

I try to separate your warmth from the ghosts of that decline,

but every promise echoes ones that ended in a bruise.

I hold my breath, trust you, soft, fragile, and mine.

-

Still, in the dark, the question circles like a sign,

a quiet worry that shadows every vow you choose:

What if the love you give is only borrowed time?

I hold my breath, trust you, soft, fragile, and mine.

Mental HealthheartbreakVillanellelove poemsart

About the Creator

Autumn Stew

Words for the ones who survived the fire and stayed to name the ashes.

Where grief becomes ritual and language becomes light.

Survival is just the beginning.

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    Written by Autumn Stew