Victors Heart Chimes

It Was Never Just Falling Out of Love You say you fell out of love— like the glass had cracked, spilling out the meaning of dreams, the sting of shared growing pains, hopes of home, the gilded laughter curled around our cats, our joy stretched across oceans and train rides. Like love just… poured from that once-hallowed glass, and now the nectar pools, forgotten, drying where no one kneels to gather it. But we were almost a decade in. You don’t lose that kind of time without feeling the unseen quakes— jarring bones, jarring memories. After you slept in someone else’s arms, my body forgot how to seek yours, and yours forgot how to reach. We slept on different floors, in different worlds, each night drifting out to sea, no one left steering us home. And I felt it— the shift, that slow retreat dressed in quiet like it was mercy. The new rhythms we rehearsed in silence: rising alone, still wondering if you'd notice the empty side of the b...

Forward, I follow my feet. Hither and thither I trudge. Hither and thither I trounce Forward I follow my feet until a fog I did meet. The Great Fog greets me. The way forward,  the way through Lies inside this damp, obscure cloud. Forward still, I lead. Forward, my feet reach  To meet the shrouded grounds. A shallow, cold, wet surprises my feet. I look up from the ground, but I cannot see. The damp, dense cloud is all around.  I square up,  Sharpen my posture  To make decisive, clear  The steps forward follow the same direction. My feet, I follow forward.  Clip clop, clip clop, The fog grows cold, A steady gait holds an ember of warmth aglow. Clip clop, clip clop, The damp grows cold Soaking through my clothes. Clip clop, clip clop, The mist hums a lullaby spun in silver, Warm as surrender— But it sings only for those it means to keep. Clip clop, clip clop. My feet fly forward  Like nocked arrows Repeatedly coiled, released, coiled- The hum is enc...