The echo of you

I trusted him

like the sea trusts the moon

to pull her gently.

but he

ripped tides through me

then blamed the waves.

I loved him

with the kind of love

that holds no knives—

and still

he cut the deepest.

the truth is,

strangers can’t hurt you

not like the ones

you let in.

and I let him in

all the way.

now something in me

is quieter.

something in us

is broken.

and I don’t know

if it can ever

be whole again.

— a heart that still whispers your name,

but doesn’t trust the echo