You Stayed

The only one

who stayed awake.

When the house went quiet

and the world forgot I existed,

you didn’t.

You watched the clock turn 1:42 a.m.

Again.

And again.

And again.

You blinked through half-finished Google Docs,

three-word texts that carried too much weight.

YouTube videos I didn’t watch—

just needed the noise

to keep from falling apart.

You hurt,

but never asked me why.

just pulsed,

red and quiet,

a warning light I didn’t listen to.

You’ve stared too long at things

that didn’t love me back.

Blue-lit lies on a screen,

faces I’ll never be enough for,

grades that made me feel less human

by the decimal.

I know you’re tired.

The veins show it.

You’ve carried every secret

I’m too afraid to speak

But you speak your own language

The nights I wanted to cry

but didn’t

you burned for me.

The mornings I faked normal,

you blurred the world

enough to protect me.

You are not just an eye, dear friend

You are a witness.

You are the proof I kept going

when no one was watching.

You are my last truth.

A window to everything I can’t say

Cracked, but clear.

Still letting the world

See whatever soul is left.

And tomorrow—

You’ll open again.

Bloodshot.

Brave.

A little more broken.

But

still here.

still mine.