Halcyon

almost

What about the almost belonging you felt?
The doorway warmth, the threshold hush,
The half-name uttered, the unclaimed shush?

And the almost love that stayed?
The phantom tenderness, the prelude ache,
The shadowed kiss, the half-lit heartbeat?

What of the almost forgiveness you deserved?
A paper-bridge truce, an unwritten apology,
The hollow pardon, and the amber hesitation?

And the almost courage that you discerned?
Breath-before-leap, Unsent yes,
Pocketed roar, toes over the cliff, heels staying anchored?

What of that almost peace that came?
Morning-lake stillness, Waning stormlight,
exhale unfinished, the calm trembling

A whispered intimacy that almost became, a hand that almost held,
a word that almost became a vow, and a heart that almost stayed.

All of it, the almosts, we carry like ghosts—
luminous with everything we never dared,
haunting the spaces we once called ours, pillared.