Weight of Every Goodbye

I was too young to understand,

but I still felt the weight of every goodbye.

I watched the door close,

counting the steps you took away from me.

You said you'd come back.

But promises dissolve like fog in the sun.

I used to whisper your name to the wind,

hoping it would carry me to you.

Now, I write letters I'll never send,

folding them into paper birds

that will never take flight.

some wounds don't bleed-

they settle in the quiet between heartbeats.

But I am still here.

Still breathing.

Still standing.

I don't need to be found.

I have found myself.