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 —

Where two souls refused to break what wasn’t theirs to claim.

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.