It starts small-
a look held too long,
a silence when words were needed,
a choice made
without you in the room.

The heart keeps records
in invisible ink,
and suddenly the pages
are heavy with knowing.

Who betrays you once
will betray you a thousand times.
There is no need
to drink the whole ocean
to realize that it's salty.

I tasted the first drop
and still stood there,
hands open,
hoping the water would turn sweet.

But the truth does not bend
for longing.
It arrives,
cold and precise,
and leaves nothing
as it was before.

Forgiveness is not foolish-
but forgetting can be.
Some lessons
come carved into the bone.

I walk away now,
not with bitterness,
but with clarity.