Day 81: What I Finally Saw
It was never the climb,
nor the songs we shared,
Nor the laughter that filled the gym air.
It was the silence between —
the sacred refrain —
He never touched what belonged to vows,
Never crossed the line, even when his eyes said “now.”
He carried the weight of a dying bond with grace,
And still left room for truth to find its rightful place.
I never took a photo, though I could have,
many times —
Because love without integrity would have made it a crime.
He never asked, and I never demanded —
Our restraint became the temple where trust landed.
His wife used duty to hold him near,
I used freedom — and he stayed clear.
Not because I trapped him,
but because he chose
To walk the path where real love grows.
And when I saw the crowd leaving the station that night,
I knew what he’d given up to step toward the light.
It wasn’t Melbourne he left —
it was orbit and fear,
To stand in the city of air,
with the sky finally clear.
Eighty-one days it took for my eyes to see,
That love was not in the claiming of *you or me*,
But in the sacred space we both kept whole —
So he could be free, and I could stay soul.
He honored me not with promise or plea,
But by becoming the man he was meant to be.
And I, in turn, kept faith through the wait —
For love that is whole will never arrive late.
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