POETRY – FREEVERSE

She was the kind of woman you never really get over.
Sure, you move on.
Build a good life, one full of blessings by any measure.
But somewhere beneath the memories—
Woven into the joy and the pain,
Tucked among the totems of a life well lived—
She’s still there.
Sitting quietly. Unmoved.

Time shifts, and I have a moment of return.
No warning, no ceremony.
Just a scent, a song, a slant of light—
And there I am again.
Back where she was.
Back where I was, too.

The first time I noticed her,
The room was buzzing with chatter and I was minding my own business.
Then she turned—head tilted,
Hair falling in that certain way—
And looked straight at me.
I held my breath.
Years later, I exhale.

Time shifts again.
The room was dark,
But dawn’s light peeked through the blinds and yawned.
I watched her eyelids flutter,
Saw the twitch at the corner of her mouth.
She was lost in a dream.
Was she dreaming of me?
Was I good enough to deserve that?

Time shifts again.
The look in her eyes when she said the words—
It told me she needed to hear them back.
But that same look told me:
If I said them,
She’d never let me take them back.

I knew she deserved better.
Knew she had the kind of soul
That life should greet with its best.
And I wasn’t it.

Time shifts back.
Things aligned and proper.
Decisions made—
Whether wrong or right,
You make them.
You live with them.
No regrets.

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