THOUGHTLESS │✔️

resonate.

Perhaps it's what the universe wanted all along, back when we were close as two halves of a single soul. We laughed and danced until our hearts were drunk in love, pulling apart and fitting together into each other's arms like our lips that shared the words too small, too simple yet infinitely meaningful to fill the world with light. Yet somewhere along the shore, we leapt in and swam too far from each other, and a delta of criss-crosses and islands washed away the dynasty we'd built together. Were we together? Was this crumbling empire made by the same pair of hands that squeezed each other when the earthquake happened, not wanting to let go in fear of being alone and incomplete? I like to think so, though I haven't heard your thoughts in years. Sometimes I thought we could only ever be one and the same, but same is not the same as love. You pointed this out to me after I fell on the ground, crying because you didn't catch me because you knew I was the one who pushed both of us down. So we continued to drift apart, floating, and eventually learning how to drive on this one-way road. Driving, running, breathing as hard as we can to catch up the reality we had been trying to run away from. Our hearts became exhausted, our minds stone cold from the lack of warmth between us. And yet, we're sitting on opposite sides of the couch, dozing in front of the flickering screen, and I don't feel as though we're drowning anymore. There's no fire in our hearts, but what's left is enough to burn a pathway across the sea and whisper to each other that oh, how tired my heart is. How alive the rest of the world seems, and are we looking through the same window? The same isn't the same as whatever we had before, but then I think about the tap water in the kitchen, and how each drop sends a wave of silence through the house, echoing in our hearts. And though we may never come closer than the space between the couch, I sleep, lulled by the gentle tides that carry your feelings to mine, resonating within us both.

It's not the best poem, but I wrote this after seeing my parents doze on opposite ends of the couch while the TV was still on. Something about it was very tranquil, even if not entirely happy, because I know that they step on each other's toes a lot. But it makes me think about the relationships I've had in my life that have gone wrong. Someday I wish that at the very least, though we may not love each other, we can still coexist peacefully.