When the Light Fades

Truth is, I still love you,
in the quiet ways I don’t admit out loud,
in the spaces between songs
and the pauses before sleep.

And I wish you loved me too,
not in some grand, impossible way,
just enough to have stayed,
just enough to have tried.

But it’s time I face the truth:
some feelings don’t fight to survive,
they slip out gently, unnoticed,
like light fading from a room.

Any love you had for me
must have left with your footsteps
because nothing of you lingers
except the echo of what I hoped we were.