Author: John Shaw-Miller

The sky collapsed when you walked away,
A universe dimmed, and the light wouldn’t stay.
My heart, once full, now hollowed and torn,
Wanders through nights that never see dawn.

Your love was the fire, the warmth in the cold,
Now ashes of memories too fragile to hold.
I grasp at the echoes, but they slip through my hands,
Like grains of time in forgotten sands.

My soul bears the weight of a thousand goodbyes,
Each one a storm beneath silent skies.
No words can mend what’s broken inside,
For love that’s lost, leaves nowhere to hide.

I ache in the places where you used to be,
A shadow, a whisper, the ghost of a dream.
The devastation you left, a void that won’t mend,
As I mourn the love that could not transcend.

I take you back, though time has worn
The edges of the love we’ve sworn.
Through silence cold and words like fire,
We built a wall with hurt and ire.

But here you stand, the same, yet changed,
A heart once close, now rearranged.
The past is heavy in your eyes,
A storm that never quite denies.

Still, something soft within me wakes,
A thread of hope that never breaks.
For even after all we’ve lost,
I find you worth this higher cost.

So take my hand, and let’s rebuild,
The spaces that our anger filled.
For love, though bruised, still finds its way,
To brighter dawns and softer days.

She never knew, not really,
How deep my heart would dive,
Through whispered words, unspoken,
Through all the days we’d strive.

I loved her in the silence,
In the spaces where we’d part,
In the moments lost and fleeting,
She never felt my heart.

I loved her like the sunrise,
Breaking gently through the mist,
But she never saw the colors,
Of the love she must’ve missed.

I thought she’d see it clearly,
In the way I stayed so near,
But love can be a shadow
When it’s hidden by the fear.

Now she moves on, unknowing,
And I stand here, still amazed,
At how I loved her wholly,
In a thousand quiet ways.

From lovers to friends, we try to pretend,
That the fire has cooled, and the longing can bend.
Once whispers of passion, now echoes of care,
We tread on this bridge that’s thin as the air.

We dance around memories, both heavy and light,
The kisses, the laughter, the long, sleepless nights.
Now we speak of the weather, the day’s little ends,
But beneath every smile, a heart still defends.

To love, then to lose, to still have you near,
Feels like holding a flame, though it brings only tears.
The space that we carve, it widens with time,
Yet lingers the ache of a love so divine.

Can friendship survive what the heart can’t erase?
When every glance holds a touch of your face?
We try to move forward, with threads that we mend,
But nothing is harder than lovers to friends.

I thought we’d last, the stars said so,
But time has come, and now I know.
The love we shared, the nights, the days,
Have drifted far, in different ways.

She smiles for her now, not for me,
Her heart’s with someone else, I see.
The laughter fades, the warmth, the glow,
It’s time for me to let her go.

The dreams we built, now dust in air,
Her love’s a flame no longer there.
Though it aches, and though it burns,
I must accept the tide has turned.

I’ll walk away, though shadows fall,
For I deserve to stand, stand tall.
Her path is hers, and mine is free,
What was once “we” is now just “me.”

I’ll let her go, release her hand,
And trust in time, I’ll understand.
The love we lost, the pain I feel,
Will one day fade, and I will heal.

I trace your skin with quiet eyes,
Each freckle, scar, a story lies.
In every curve, a whispered grace,
A landscape shaped by time’s embrace.

The world may seek some perfect form,
But in your flaws, I find the warm
And tender truth of who you are,
A constellation, every scar.

Your skin, like satin, brushed by air,
A dance of shadows, soft and bare.
Each imperfection makes you whole,
A masterpiece that soothes my soul.

In love, I see beyond the seams,
Where beauty shines through hidden dreams.
And every mark, a sacred part
Of the canvas woven by your heart.

So let the world look far and wide,
But here in you, I find my pride.
For in your nakedness, I see
The truest form of poetry.

When I loved her so much, she lost the sky,
No more the endless stretch of blue on high.
I wanted to give her stars, so bright and far,
But in their place, I dimmed her guiding star.

She lost the silence of the midnight air,
For I filled it with words, loud, unaware.
I wanted to give her songs to make her smile,
But drowned the tune she held all the while.

She lost the freedom of her gentle breeze,
As I tried to anchor her with love’s deep seas.
I wanted to give her warmth, steady and true,
But held too close, she lost her hue.

She lost her lightness, her quiet, her ease,
In all my giving, I could not see these.
For when I loved her so much, wanting to be enough,
I forgot that love sometimes asks for less, not too much.

I walked the edge of night alone,
With heavy heart, like cold-cut stone.
The world grew dim without your light,
A silent cry, no will to fight.

I lost you, and with you, me,
A broken branch from a dying tree.
The colors bled, the stars grew pale,
Each breath, a weight, too sharp, too frail.

I reached for peace in a final way,
A desperate wish for skies of gray.
But in the dark, a whisper came,
“You’re still here, don’t fan the flame.”

So I stand now on trembling ground,
Still missing you, still feeling bound.
But life, though hollow, gently calls,
In whispers soft, though I still fall.

Maybe someday, I’ll find my feet,
And in my chest, a steady beat.
For now, I stumble, trying to stay,
Surviving loss, day after day.

She smiled at a text that wasn’t from me,
A fleeting glance, a joy I could see.
In that moment, the world felt unfair,
Her heart somewhere else, while I was still there.

I watched as her eyes lit up with delight,
And felt the distance grow, slow but bright.
The love I had nurtured, tender and true,
Faded in the shadow of someone new.

Still, I held on, though I knew deep inside,
That part of her heart no longer aligned.
Her smile was a signal, a quiet farewell,
To the love I had lost but couldn’t quite tell.

You say you’re busy, caught up in your day,
But deep inside, I know it’s just a way
To let the silence grow between us two,
A quiet truth I’ve slowly come to view.

You used to call, you’d ask to meet me here,
Now days slip by, and I don’t even hear
A whisper of your voice, a fleeting sign
That once, you wanted to be near, be mine.

I see the distance in your words, your tone,
A message loud, though softly overthrown.
You don’t want to be here, that much is clear,
And honestly, I wonder why I care.

The space you’ve carved is where you want to be,
And in that space, you’ve left no room for me.
So I will watch you drift, without a sound—
Perhaps it’s time I stopped hanging around.