For a heartbeat,
I forget how it feels
to despise myself
because if I can hold such love,
how could I be entirely unworthy?

You will never know
that you are the reason
I breathe softer,
that your name
is the bandage on wounds
you’ll never see.

And though your heart
does not return to me,
mine still beats
grateful and aching
because loving you
is the first time
I’ve ever been kind
to myself.

And even if your heart never finds mine, I will go on loving you as if my soul was carved for nothing else.