The Life We Leave Unlived

We learn to keep a steady face,
To bite the words and call it peace.
We leave our hearts without a place,
Then wonder why we find no ease.
 
Some homes had rules for every chore,
But none for grief, or shame, or doubt.
We learned what locks and walls were for,
But not to let each other out.
 
A child who risks a truth meets scorn;
The next time, silence seems more wise.
A practiced smile is slowly born;
The hurt survives its own disguise.
 
What keeps us safe can keep us still;
What guards the wound can block the cure.
We call it strength, or iron will,
And praise the pain we can endure.
 
But count the cost of each withheld
“I need you” lost behind the teeth.
How much of love can still be felt
When no one knows what lives beneath?
 
The ones we love cannot be blamed
For failing needs we never share.
How can they tend what stays unnamed,
Or know which silence asks for care?
 
Not every thought deserves the floor;
Not every hurt makes others wrong.
But wisdom need not bolt the door
To prove that self-control is strong.
 
A feeling need not be a law;
It needs a hearing, not a throne.
We need not act on all we saw
To claim the truth of what we own.
 
Say, “That still hurts.” Say, “Please don’t go.”
Let love hear more than “I am fine.”
We cannot make an answer grow,
But we can give the truth a sign.
 
One day, no days remain to spend;
No later comes to set things right.
Speak while a voice can reach a friend.
Let those you love know you tonight.

…

DCG

There are words we carry for years, feelings we hide behind smiles, and goodbyes we never speak. Perhaps the heaviest things in life are not the things we lose, but the words we keep inside, the feelings we never reveal, and the things we never had the courage to say.

— unknown