It wasn't just a sound;
it was a map,
leading to a world
I thought we would build -
a world where her laugh
would echo down the corridors of our home.
spilling into the rooms
where children would learn
the magic of their mother's joy

Her laughter -
was color and warmth to the walls
of gray stone.

A pebble skipping over still waters,
shaking the silence
of my life before her.

But it's gone now,
its music quieted.
I still wait to hear it -
its rise, its ripple, its reverberation
the careless abandon
that made me believe
tomorrow could be beautiful.

I live now among echoes,
pieces of her joy caught in the
corners
of old conversation.
I would give anything to hear it
again,
to let it anchor me
to the dreams
we started to weave.

But laughter, like love,
cannot be held in place.
It flutters away
as quickly as it came
and I sit in its absence
holding onto the memory
of a giggle

Sometimes I remember you,  
On nights when the stars feel closer,  
When silence presses heavy on my chest,  
And I ache for the way you once fit there.  

I see us in flashes—  
A late-night drive with the world asleep,  
Your laughter dancing in the air,  
Breaking the quiet like a song I’ll never hear again.  
We made the moon jealous,  
Didn’t we?  

I remember the afternoons too,  
Worn-out paths beneath our feet,  
Your hand brushing mine like it was meant to.  
We talked of dreams, of nothing, of everything,  
And nothing else mattered.  
Not the ticking of clocks,  
Not the weight of the world.  
Just you. Just us.  

You were perfect to me—  
More than perfect,  
You were home.  
The one who made the chaos pause,  
The one who saw the worst of me,  
And stayed.  

I loved the way we teased each other,  
How your smile dared the sun to shine brighter.  
You knew all my edges, my flaws, my fears,  
And still, you fit into my arms like they were built for you.  
I would give it all back—  
Every piece of myself,  
Every fragment of pride,  
To stand in that place again.  

But these are just memories now,  
A cruel echo of what once was.  
No words can turn back time,  
No plea can undo the silence you left behind.  
I think about you daily—  
Your voice, your touch, your everything.  

And I regret.  
I regret every moment I let slip,  
Every second I thought we had forever.  
Because forever ended too soon,  
And now I walk alone,  
Knowing I will never love another like I loved you.  

Sometimes, I remember you,  
And the world feels both too much and not enough.  
You’re gone,  
And I’m here,  
Holding onto the pieces of us,  
Wishing I had held you tighter when I had the chance.

There is still an echo similar to a giggle.

So far away that heart can barely feel them and the mind can barely touch them. So faded away in the fog of despair, I embarked on a journey while floating on the waves of my memory.

Laughter so dying,

Residing in the corner of a decaying reminiscence.

Laughter so dying,

Erasing from the brain like a remembrance of a bird passing by.

Laughter so dying,

Sinking in the depths of hopelessness.

Laughter so dying,

Misery feeds upon contentment and serenity is overwhelmed by emptiness.

Laughter so dying,

It stays in our chest forever, slowly building a house, now called grief, that once was home to decaying laughter.

it's intoxicating.
the salt air on cool nights.

wind that disperses the scent,
pushing it closer to the deck
that warm bodies
are perched on.

warm bodies
that have full bellies
that grow painful
each time they laugh.

bellies that have been aching
for the last few hours,
because the laughter is harmonising
with body cries.

salt air
that blankets them.

salt air
so inebriating
it forces them into admission.

sweet confessions whispered
over mugs (warm and full).

songs of 'i love you'
swept up by the moon,
only to be caught in trees,
(let the words nestle here, please.
close to the ground,
before they are taken by the breeze).

Loyalty, honesty, respect—
That’s all I ask, and all I give.
I’d never seek to change your soul,
For it’s your spirit that makes me whole.
Through laughter, tears, and all we’ve known,
You’ve never had to walk alone.
I stand with you, in light or dark,
Our bond unshaken, a constant spark.
No need for words, no need for show,
True friendship’s strength is all I know.

Remember when you heard my name for the first time?

You thought it was a play on words;

I said it was just a play,

and you laughed like you knew the difference.

Remember the glittering forever you saw in my eyes?

I told you it was a trick of the light.

You said it was just a trick, but
we could make it real by wanting it—so I started wanting it.

You asked about my favorite lie, and I said, “I don’t know.”

You laughed, either because you got it,

or because you didn’t—and that was just as funny.


You didn't lift the weight of my words,

how they sank like stones in my stomach, obscuring my glitter,

waiting to see if you'd notice when they lost their shimmer.

Remember why we didn’t drive to the coast?

You thought I was scared of the ocean,

but I knew it had swallowed too many endings already.

The waves couldn’t wash away your ambiguity;

they would only drown my swell no salt could soften.

Remember that postcard I never sent?

You shouldn’t, but I feel like you would.

I wrote it one night in a knot of longing and spite:

“Wish you were here, but it might be better that you’re not.”

How many Dear John's sit sealed, unsent,

lost in transit between what was promised and what was kept?

Between what was enchanted, and what’s now dead?

Remember the night I asked what you'd save in a fire?

You said, “Everything.”

Like you could shove hearts and histories into pockets

without splitting seams. You can’t escape unscathed,

lock the door, and not stink of the charred bits you abandoned.

Meaning things and speaking things are not the same,

and if I wasn’t choking on smoke, I might try to tell you:

some things are meant to burn—

Some things are both the light and the trick
and the play goes on regardless.