At thirteen, the world cracked wide and deep,
The day you left, I forgot how to sleep.
No longer a child, but not fully grown,
I stood in the space between lost and alone.
Your laughter, once strong, now echoes like air,
I reach for your hand, but it isn’t there.
The house feels smaller, but emptier still,
Time slows to a crawl, then speeds at its will.
There were no warnings, no time to prepare,
Just a silence that settled, a hollowed-out stare.
I waited for you, for a word, for a sign,
But all I could find was the absence of time.
The weight of goodbye, too heavy to hold,
I was just thirteen, and you were too old
To fight what had come, though you tried every day,
Now the sun shines, but in a different way.
I wish I had told you the things that I know,
Like how love can still grow in the shadow of “go.”
And though you’re not here in the ways that I need,
Your heart beats in mine, in my thoughts, in my seed.
The world cracked open, but I’ve learned to repair,
With fragments of memories, of times that we shared.
At thirteen, I lost you, but now I can see—
You left more than pain, you left pieces of me.
