If Only You Knew

My Dear Friend,

I just wish I weren’t feeling this alone—

that somewhere, quietly, you feel it too.

That maybe, in the stillness between our talks, you think of me as I think of you.

I wish I were the first name that crossed your mind when you woke,

the one you’d text when your heart feels heavy,

the voice you’d long to hear when the night turns too quiet.

I wish I were the reason you stay up till three, waiting for a message that never comes.

I wish I weren’t just “someone close,” not the sisterly warmth you mistake for safety,

but the one your heart can’t unsee.

And yet, I’m scared—to say it, to break it,

to let the truth slip out of my trembling heart.

So I stay here, smiling, pretending, while secretly hoping you feel what I’m too afraid to name.

One Heart