The Unspoken Vow

I looked at the empty chair across the table,

the wood still holding the warmth of a ghost.

Real love is not a season that changes;

it is a root that grows deeper

the more the world tries to pull it out.

I am a man of character,

but I am still wearing the promise I made to you

like a heavy, golden chain around my soul.

No status can fill the silence you left behind,

no empty degree can teach me how to un-love a heart.

I have the tarbiyat of a man who stays loyal,

even when the hands I used to hold

are now holding someone else’s world.

I squeezed my eyes,

tightly pushing my memories together,

trying to find the grit to let you go.

But you are a "Part of me" that cannot be removed.

A new life, they say, is waiting outside the door,

but I am still sitting in the room

where we first said hello.

Success is not finding someone new to love;

it is being brave enough to keep the light on

for a person who is never coming back.

Stay firm in your art.

Stay loyal to your scars.

The universe is not made of stars,

it is made of the promises we actually kep