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If I had only one day to know you,
I would sit you down in the quiet
and unfold the stories I kept behind my smile—
all the times I nearly broke,
yet softened my edges
so I might be someone you could hold without hesitation.

I felt it then—
the gravity of wanting to be wanted,
the quiet certainty that you could love me,
until that love thinned and slipped
the moment I stood unguarded,
with or without the smile to carry me.

And without your approval,
I found myself returning
to the same unchanging place—
a truth that does not bend
for comfort,
does not soften
for unease,
does not rewrite itself
to be easier to need.