I touch a smooth black stone beside you. I finally understand post breakup ache.

I see you inside the lake house in October before I prepare my face.

I notice woodsmoke caught in my hair clinging to the silence around us.

I recognize a smooth black stone before I trust your smile.

I remember why I need the room to stop remembering.

I stay as a hidden letter falls from beneath the floorboards.

I let my voice cross the distance first.

I watch your eyes move toward the narrow dock instead of mine.

I recall your forehead resting against mine after midnight.

I hate how tenderness survives the agreement that ends it.

I refuse another beautiful description of post breakup ache.

I feel your silence choose its first casualty.

I fold my fingers around a smooth black stone beneath the table.

I listen as you describe the life around your answer.

I stop translating after I learn that you left but your habits stayed.

I feel grief enter before the sentence ends.

I walk to the narrow dock with your footsteps behind me.

I hear you ask me not to leave yet.

I look up and find your mouth too near mine.

I let hope rise once, against everything I know.

I reach for you inside the lake house in October, but you left but your habits stayed.