Every time we sit down,
the air changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not because I don\u2019t want to listen,
but because I already know
where the conversation will go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It begins softly.
Then slowly,
it returns
to the day everything was taken from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I watch your face when you speak.
It tightens in places you pretend are fine.
Your eyes travel somewhere far,
somewhere I cannot follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because that\u2019s what friends do.
They stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But staying is not always easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are days I go home heavy.
Not annoyed.
Not angry.
Just full of something that isn\u2019t mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your sorrow sits on my chest
long after we part ways.
And I lie awake wondering
if I am doing enough
or if I am slowly disappearing
inside your unfinished grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I worry about you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I worry that you built a small room
inside your heart
where the past keeps playing
like an old song on repeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I worry that you visit that room
more than you visit your own future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I also notice something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are still here.
You wake up.
You try.
You laugh sometimes.
You dream, even if quietly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So maybe you are not broken.
Maybe you are just carrying something
that was too heavy
for the age you were
when it happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I am learning something too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can care deeply
without becoming your rescue plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can listen
without losing myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can say, gently,
\u201cLet\u2019s talk about who you are becoming.\u201d
Not to silence your pain,
but to remind you
that your life did not end
with the people you lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am your friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will walk beside you.
But I cannot live in yesterday with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that is not selfish.
It is healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because love should support,
not suffocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I want us both
to breathe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/v\/17DAyGUiS3<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The One Who Lost, \u201cThis Is Why I Speak\u201d by walking shadow<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n