Softlies In The Rain

The city is quiet tonight
Not silent, just, tired
Like me
And I keep walking these streets
Where your shadow still remembers my name
I don't know if I'm looking for you
Or trying to lose you for good

You left your echoes in every window light
Your touch in every cold reflection of glass
I step where we once stood
But the ground doesn't feel the same
Your memory follows like perfume after the door closes
It lingers, it holds, it clings
I thought I could outgrow the ache
But the ache grew with me
The rain hides my face from strangers
But it never hides me from myself
It falls like everything we never said
Everything we said too late
And I keep hearing your goodbyes
In the drops that hit the pavement
Soft lies don't echo
They dissolve

I said I'd be fine
I said I'd move on
But I lied in the same softness you did
No sharp edges
No fights
No final words
Just the slow drowning of something we once called love
I know you're somewhere warm
Somewhere bright
Somewhere untouched by the memory of us
And I'm here
Learning how to walk again
In a city that remembers you better than I do

You never meant to stay
But I wanted you to

The rain washes everything but you
Your voice still lives in the quiet places
Your hands still trace the outline of my nights
I wear the distance between us
Like a coat that never dries
Every step I take feels like the one before
Like time is looping around the moment you left
I tried to forgive you
For leaving gently
But gentle endings hurt longer
They don't bleed
They bruise

If love was real
It should have stayed
If love was real
It should have tried
But soft lies can feel like truth
When spoken slowly enough

I still walk the same streets
But I don't look back anymore
Not because I don't miss you
But because missing you
Is the only part of us that didn't leave