To the One I Loved in Every Timeline but This One

a closing page

I won’t ask where you are now.

I won’t chase shadows or echoes.

The version of you I needed

only existed in my memory,

and she’s finally ready

to stop looking for you there.

You were a season

I kept trying to stretch

into forever—

but the leaves always fell

before we could bloom.

I loved you in whispers,

in dreams,

in maybes that never ripened.

And still—

I loved you.

But love without presence

is a haunting.

And I am tired

of being haunted

by a ghost who won’t stay

and won’t go.

So this is not a rage.

This is not a plea.

This is a candle blown out

with both hands.

A name carved gently

into the bark of the past.

You were the ache

that shaped me.

But I am the one

who stayed.

And now,

I choose to walk forward

without turning back.

Because I deserve

a love that stands still

when I reach for it.

And you—

you are a lesson

that has finally

been learned.