When the Calendar Couldn't Hold Us

I missed the midnight that welcomed a new year.
I missed the candles that lit your birthday.
I missed the quiet victories,
the days that changed you,
the moments that asked for my hand
and found only empty air.

Another season is coming.

How many times has your heart
broken beside mine,
each of us carrying pieces
the other never truly saw?

Can we choose something different?

Can we be gentle
before we're right?
Can we let the anger grow tired,
set it down like a heavy coat
neither of us was meant to wear?

If I told you
this is all I've wished for,
not perfection,
not a love untouched by pain,
only us,
still standing,
still reaching,

would you believe me?

You have learned to doubt
more easily than to believe.
And somewhere along the way,
your fear became mine.

Yet through every silence,
every missed celebration,
every unanswered question,
my heart keeps returning
to the same quiet truth:

Being with you
is still the only place
I've ever wanted
to call home.