The Day I Stopped Waiting for You

I waited

for calls that never came,

For love that wore your name.

For words you swallowed whole,

and promises you left untold.

I waited

on empty stairs,

counting silences like prayers.

Believing that love meant pain,

believing you'd come back again.

But healing crept in quietly,

like morning light through blinds

soft, unannounced,

and wholly mine.

I stopped searching your shadow for answers.

I stopped bending in half to be seen.

I stopped calling it fate.

When it was only routine.

The day I stopped waiting for you.

It wasn’t loud.

No storm. No scream.

Just peace in choosing me

over the echo of a dream.