The Rain Still Draws the Lines

The coffee shop window, rain tracing lines

I still order your drink sometimes

by accident

or on purpose — I don't ask anymore

Your hand brushed mine

I still know where

exactly where

the second knuckle

the hesitation before you pulled away

We weren't meant to last

I knew it then

but knowing something

and feeling something

are different languages

and I only learned one of them fluently

There's a spark that still burns through

not like a fire

like a single match

held too close

for too long

in a room I never left

I'll remember you, my fleeting flame

not because you were extraordinary

because you were ordinary

and I almost let myself believe

that ordinary could stay

A touch of warmth

a whispered name

I don't whisper it anymore

but it whispers me

when I'm not paying attention

Though time may dim

it can't erase

not because time is weak

because I keep redrawing you

in every new face

The glow you left

a tender trace

like a fingerprint

on a window

that no one else can see

but I can't clean

Your laugh in the kitchen

I hear it in other kitchens now

and every time

for one second

I'm back on that creaky floor

wearing socks I don't own anymore

The way you lingered by the door

like you were waiting for me to say

something I didn't have the words for

I have the words now

but you're not by the door anymore

We weren't meant to stay

our paths were thin

but thin paths still leave footprints

and yours are still on my skin

I saw a world where love begins

I just didn't see

that it had already ended

before I realized it had begun

I'll remember you, my fleeting flame

not with sadness anymore

just with a quiet confusion

like a song I can't finish

but can't stop humming either

A touch of warmth

a whispered name

if I saw you tomorrow

I wouldn't say it

I'd just count the seconds

until you left again

Though time may dim

it can't erase

not because love is strong

because loss is patient

The glow you left

a tender trace

is just another way of saying:

I still look for you

in crowds

on purpose

Some stars are born to fade.

That's what I tell myself.

But here's the thing about stars:

their light keeps traveling

long after they're gone.

So when I say your light still guides the way,

I don't mean I'm following it.

I mean I'm still burning

from a fire

that wasn't even mine.

And though we couldn't hold the sky,

I never wanted the sky.

I wanted your hand.

That one time.

By the rain-tracing window.

I'll keep your shimmer in my eye

not because I choose to

because my eye forgot

how to close all the way

I'll remember you, my fleeting flame

not as a lesson

not as a gift

just as a fact

like gravity

like rain

A touch of warmth

a whispered name

I've whispered it to strangers

in different cities

different beds

different kinds of loneliness

Though time may dim

it can't erase

not because time failed

because I refused

The glow you left

a tender trace

is still here

in this coffee shop

in this rain

in this sentence

I still order your drink sometimes.

The rain still draws lines.

And I still don't say your name out loud.

Not because it hurts.

Because it fits too perfectly

in the silence

you left behind.