I held my tears like porcelain

Afraid they'd fall and break

| learned to smile in silence for the promises we couldn't make

You said forever softly, like it might disappear, and I believed in echoes I was never meant to hear

I loved you without asking

Without a single demand

I stood right where you left me

And still reached for your hand

Some hearts are born to give more

Some learn to stay too late

I watched you choose the distance

While I chose love anyway

This is me, still standing

With a quiet kind of pain

Loving you, with dignity

Not calling out your name

If loving you was losing

I lost with open eyes

Some loves don't need to be returned

To still be real inside

I won't rewrite the story

I won't curse the truth

Some hearts are only chapters

Not the whole book through

This is me, still standing

Not broken, not ashamed

I loved you in the only way

That love should ever be named

I was just If you remember me someday

Let it be this way

I loved you with

A steady heart

And let you

Walk away

Where love learned to be quiet

I learned to be strong.