You think
you left her
somewhere
safe—
a version
trimmed by
loss and cost
resigned
from a rage
that won't
leave you alone

But she's not
so gone

She lives
in what
you are—
the pause
before reply
the way
you lean away
when asking why

She learned
to shed
the ache—
not
what made
you kind
you were
already kind

What pain
erased
was never
the heart
only
its outline

And true love
knows
you are enough—
you always
have been

It's possible—
to keep
the warmth
without the burn
to be the flame
without the fuel
of pain