If someone couldn’t hear
My silence,
The things I said
Without saying a word,
The quiet pain
I wrapped inside my stillness,
Then I don’t want
To keep them
In my noise either.

Because love isn’t proven
Only by showing up
When I speak.
It’s proven
By staying
When I don’t.

Some people wait
To clap at your loudest moment,
But miss the tear
That quietly dropped
Between two heartbeats.

If my silence was invisible to you,
Then my joy
Is not yours to hold.