Ruins. Poem by Kelsey Aziel

I came from ruins.
Not the grandiose kind
but the insidious quiet of heartbreak's residue
the fragments one gathers painstakingly
the fissures you seal with trembling hands
because you've grown weary of bleeding.

I wasn't seeking illumination
nor solace
nor the gentle tether of another soul
I was merely reacquainting myself
with the art of uprightness
teaching my ribs to rise
without collapsing under the gravity
of all that had been fractured.

And then you arrived
soft as a susurrus
gentle as verity
a serenity I hadn't anticipated
yet somehow familiar
like a memory my heart had mislaid.

You were no deliverance
no panacea
merely a presence that insinuated itself
into spaces I had long deemed inviolate
With every word
the atmosphere lightened
the silence became less oppressive
and the ache receded
into something more bearable
more human.

You harbor shadows
you drape behind your smile
tempests you transport
unseen
and I have never perceived them as imperfections
Only evidence of survival
testament to depth
proof that your heart has endured enough
to merit cautious guardianship.

Some days you are warm
some days you recede into distance
and I am left pondering
am I clasping something authentic
or misinterpreting delicate gestures
you never intended to offer
Yet even amidst uncertainty
I remain
drawn by the inexorable gravity of you
stronger than my apprehension
stronger than the echo of past fractures.

You traverse your feelings deliberately
measured in trust
methodical in disclosure
and I have learned to mirror your cadence
neither prescient nor insistent
merely steadfast
attentive
present.

I could abscond
my history instructs me well
But you are a genesis I scarcely dared imagine
a slow-blooming phenomenon
that exacts no urgency
demands no haste
yet flourishes with profound inevitability.

Perhaps your heart is still deciphering
how to entwine with mine
but if ever
your measured tempo becomes conviction
if ever
your shadows lean toward illumination
I will be here
not to mend
not to redeem
but to accompany you
within the ruins
we have both transcended.