the empty chair

I once sat at the table,

where laughter echoed,

and familiar faces softened the silence.

But now the chair is empty,

the seat once filled with love,

now just a hollow space.

They say time heals,

but time has only shown me

how fragile love can be,

how easily it crumbles

under the weight of my truth.

I long for the days

when they called me by my name—

before the world saw me differently.

But now, I walk alone,

and the ghosts of those I've lost

haunt me in the quiet spaces.

Yet I stand taller,

though the ache lingers,

because I know this path

is mine to walk,

even if the ones I loved

are no longer beside me.