Without asking permission

For a long time
I believed
that peace looked like
absence.

No one coming in.
No one staying.
No one able to leave.

A home perfectly protected
from every possible loss.

Then you arrived.

Not like a storm.

Storms
make their presence felt.

You arrived
like the light
that slowly moves from room to room
without asking permission.

At first
I kept closing the windows.

Out of habit.

Human beings
are most loyal
to the very things that have hurt them.

So, I watched you from afar.

As one watches the sea
after almost forgetting
how to swim.

And yet, something inside me
began to melt away.

Not the pain.

That remains.

Rather,
the need to protect it.

Now I know
that I didn’t want to be saved.

I just wanted
to stop living
as if everything beautiful
were bound to disappear.

You arrived too late.

Luckily.

When we’re young,
we often confuse love
with noise.

That's enough for me now.

Just knowing you exist.

Now that you’re here,
I no longer need
to search for the right words.

Never say
never.