filled with rustling trees and a

sky that splashed auburn — there we were,

making love in your car.

you hugged me as if you never wanted to let go.

i didn’t want to let go.

“can you be mine?”, you whispered out of the blue.

“look me in the eye. ask me that again,” i replied softly.

“can you be mine? can you be my girlfriend?”

and I watched as chance after chance after chance

slipped through my fingers.

Moments that could have been etched

In our shared history

were instead lost in the abyss of silence.

The words I have been wanting to say

but never have to courage to

remained locked within my soul,

stifling under the weight

of my own indecision and lack of faith.

Faith for what we could have been,

where our love could have gotten us,

and why we always find out our way

to each other's doorstep.

The unspoken truths echoed

in the depths of my being,

a constant reminder of the opportunities—

of you, of us that slipped away.

Regret paints its melancholic strokes

on the canvas of my heart,

for the road not taken will forever haunt me.

Yet, amidst the sorrow,

a flicker of hope remains,

whispering that perhaps, one day,

the universe will conspire

to reunite our paths and grant us