If I had known your love was brief,
I’d not have built my world on grief.
I’d guard my heart from hollow praise,
Not chase the warmth of fleeting days—
Nor crown your silence as belief.
You wore affection like disguise,
A borrowed light behind your eyes.
I gave you truth, you gave me show,
A shadowed yes, a quiet no—
And left me lost in love’s demise.
If I had known, I’d walk alone,
Not carve your name in flesh and bone.
But now I rise, though scarred and torn,
From ashes where my joy was sworn—
And mourn the love I should have known.
C