You say you love me
yet the question lingers like incense in a ruined temple.
Tell me, why, oh why?

I carved your name into the bark of an ageless tree,
and the tree whispered it to the winds of eternity.
You traced mine upon a passing shore,
and the tide erased me before the gulls had seen.

The rains fall, bearing stories wounded by time;
your name glimmers through their tears,
while mine dissolves into silence.

I spoke of you to neighbors,
and their lamps burned brighter.
You spoke of me to water,
and the river carried me away.

At night, beneath the hidden star,
they gathered to tell your story.
My shadow passed among them,
but no one called my name.

I held the rose you gave me,
pressed it into scripture,
hid it beneath my pillow as though it were prayer.
I gave you a vessel to hold my soul,
and you let it shatter into dust.

And still you say:
“I love you beyond all speech.”

If love is so vast,
why do I stand nameless at its gate?
Why do you love me?
Tell me, why, oh why?