The Flame and the Shadow

You light a match beside the open window,

Rain hissing where the flame dares breathe,

A fragile spark in the night’s quiet thunder,

A whisper of fire against the ache beneath.  

Dear,Your eyes are both a storm and shelter,

A tempest that stirs my deepest roots,

Yet a harbor where my fears find refuge,

A paradox that leaves me mute.  

I lean in — and burn beneath,

A flame that flickers in your gaze,

Caught between the thrill and the ache,

Lost in the haze of love’s cruel blaze.  

We speak in whispers, then in silence,

Words trembling like glass between our hands,

Secrets spilling like rain from the sky,

Trying to understand what we can’t withstand.  

Your laugh, a sunlight breaking

Over ruins love still understands,

A melody that scars and heals,

A song held in trembling hands.  

Your touch can steady, or undo me —

A pulse that heals, then cuts in half,

A gentle storm that tears apart

The fragile shell of what we have.  

I taste your name like salt and honey,

A fever I cannot outlast,

A sweetness intertwined with ache,

A love too vast to ever cast.  

In the dark, your shadow folds around me,

Both warmth and absence in its weave,

A silhouette that haunts my dreams,

A ghost I’m doomed to believe.  

I hold you close and feel the distance,

A closeness that will always leave,

A chasm carved by silent years,

In the space where we deceive.  

We build our heaven out of splinters,

Make promises we half believe,

Fragile as the dawn’s first light,

Shattered then retrieved.  

Even in pain, I find redemption —

Love wounds, but will not let me leave,

A paradox of broken wings,

That teaches me to grieve.  

And when you go, the air still trembles,

A ghost of breath, a fading flame,

What kills me most is what revives me —

The endless calling of your name.  

Through every shadow, every ache,

Your absence carved in every breath,

Love’s echo, both curse and cure,

Dances with my deathless death.