Shadow

You wore kindness like a fitted coat

Soft voice, sharp edges at the throat

Every room bent toward your light

Til standing near you meant standing slight

I laughed off every little cut

Made myself smaller just enough

Thought being chosen was enough to earn

A place beside the way you burned

⸻

You always needed higher ground

Someone underneath looking up

And I mistook your altitude

For love

⸻

I lived too long inside your shadow

Learning love could feel so shallow

You made a kingdom out of judgment

Just to wear another crown

Every room became a courtroom

Every win was watered down

Funny how your perfect posture

Still couldn’t make you proud

⸻

I learned to swallow every bruise

Laugh it off to humor you

But some lines cut too close to home

And this time I felt it move

You spoke to me like policy

Clean and careful, never deep

Like if compassion cost too much

You’d rather let me bleed in peace

⸻

You collect people like reflections

Love them best beneath your frame

But I got tired of disappearing

To make you feel unchanged

⸻

I lived too long inside your shadow

Learning love could feel so shallow

You made a kingdom out of judgment

Just to wear another crown

Every room became a courtroom

Every win was watered down

Funny how your perfect posture

Still couldn’t make you proud

⸻

Maybe your warmth was just attention

Maybe your love came with a scale

Maybe I only looked beneath you

Cause I was taught that’s what friends do well

But I’m too tired to keep kneeling

At the altar of your pride

I’d rather stand alone in sunlight

Than spend one more day dimming mine

⸻

I lived too long inside your shadow

Learning love could feel so shallow

You made a kingdom out of judgment

Just to wear another crown

Now I know that real love never

Needs somebody looking down

Funny how your perfect posture

Only hid your doubt

⸻

You looked tallest from beneath you

That’s the trick of narrow skies

But shadows only last forever

If no one steps outside