The Hollow Among Us

I sat with ghosts in a burned-out chapel, Names gone, faces blurred by flame. Even the echoes forgot how to echo. And the silence said more than heaven ever could. They all leave, don’t they? One by one, like stars folding in. I called to the light, But even the light packed its bags. Names rot faster than bodies, And smiles are just skulls with skin. The ones I loved? They never left a shadow deep enough to trace. If I saw you… Would you turn your face to me, Or blink past like I was never part of the sky you fell from? Would my voice crack open your grave, Or just echo through dirt, Pointless as prayer? Every flame fades. Every name ends. Everyone I held is dust in the wind’s clenched hand. I reached for you in the ash— But your shadow didn’t reach back. They say angels don’t return. Maybe they saw what we became. And if I crossed over, Would they be cruel, or just bored? Would they sneer at another broken soul Trying to buy his way in with grief? I wrote your name in my skin last winter, Now it's just a scar no one reads. I’m not haunted. I’m the haunting. No heaven, no gate. No voice to answer the ache. Just the sound of names falling off stone, And the smell of rain that never came. If I met you again, Would you remember the wreck I became? Or would you ask my name, Like it never once burned in your throat? …and I’d lie. I’d lie just to stay. ---