Half here, all gone

You sit beside me, but your eyes betray, 

They wander places I will never know. 

You laugh at jokes, but it’s a cruel display, 

A mask to hide the love you let me show. 

We sip our coffee; steam clouds what you feel, 

Your hand in mine, yet I sense the void. 

Every word you speak is almost unreal, 

A ghost of care, reckless and destroyed. 

We walk the streets, your steps too far ahead, 

I chase your shadow, hoping it will stay. 

Your mind’s elsewhere, tracing threads I dread, 

While I remain a fragment in your play. 

You whisper “love,” a word that hits like glass, 

I feel the echo pierce me to the bone. 

Half of you is mine, the rest will pass, 

And still I stay, a fool to stand alone. 

Reckless, you scatter pieces of your heart, 

Like shards of glass I clutch, though they cut deep. 

I gather fragments, tethered by my part, 

A love half-lived, a wound I cannot keep. 

So here I wait, where flesh and thought collide, 

A heart half-stolen, trembling in the night. 

Half here, all gone — you’re mine and yet denied, 

A flicker of you burns, then slips from sight.