No Goodbyes

We said let’s not rush it,

Let’s not scare it away,

You said names make a mess of it,

I said, “Okay.”

We called it being open,

Like that was enough,

Like love’s just a feeling

You don’t label or touch.

I learned how not to ask,

Like silence was a skill,

I swallowed every question

Just to keep it chill.

If it’s never official,

It can’t officially end,

No titles, no wreckage,

Just quiet drifting instead.

You called it being careful,

I called it modern and wise,

The truth about no labels

Is that there’s no goodbyes.

We were fluent in maybes,

In leaving doors wide open,

You said pressure ruins everything,

I said, “Fine.”

We dodged every definition,

Like clarity’s a crime,

Turns out uncertainty’s

Just a very slow goodbye.

We made it sound enlightened,

Like we cracked something new,

But all that space between us

Was just room to lose you.

If it’s never official,

It can’t officially end,

No language for breaking,

No “where did we bend?”

You said it keeps things easy,

I said love shouldn’t try,

The truth about no labels

Is that there’s no goodbyes.

We said let’s not name it

In Galveston, Texas,

Salt in the air,

Bare feet on the deck chairs.

I thought if we didn’t say it

It couldn’t fall apart,

I didn’t know silence

Still breaks a heart.

If it’s never official,

It can’t officially end,

That’s not being safe,

That’s just leaving a fence.

Next time I’ll risk the language,

Let it hurt if it tries,

I’d rather break something real

Than live where there’s no goodbyes.