There is a place inside you No map has ever traced, a quiet room behind the ribs where light forgets to stay. No one sees it when you smile, No one hears it when you speak. It moves beneath your laughter like a river running deep. It is yours alone to carry, not carved for other hands, a language made of silence Only your soul understands. Some mornings it is heavier, a stone you cannot name, And still you rise and wear your life as if it were the same. But pain, it does not leave you when ignored or pushed away, it waits within the folds of time, it learns you day by day. It is not your enemy, though it cuts without a sound; it is the truth you buried but still lives underground. And yes, there are nights it breaks you, when endurance feels too wide, when even breath feels borrowed And there is nowhere left to hide. Yet somehow you continue, not because you do not fall, but because within the breaking You still answer life’s call. You learn to walk beside it, not beneath it, not above...
If your interest fades, do not dress it as love,
Do not wrap distance in smiles and borrowed gifts,
I do not want offerings meant to confuse my heart
Or gestures rehearsed to keep me quiet.
Step aside with honesty, not performance,
Let your silence speak plainly,
Tell me when you are finished
So I may stop waiting for what no longer comes.
Do not pretend affection where none exists,
I would rather face the truth barehanded
Than to be held by a lie
That slowly teaches me to doubt myself.
If you are done, say it without cruelty,
I will not beg, I will not chase,
I will open my hands, release you gently,
And let you go with my dignity intact.
© 2026 Gloria Penelope
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