Unspoken

A Poem by Nowell Dulin

"Unspoken" delves into the bittersweet essence of love unfulfilled, where longing and desire remain unspoken. It captures the heartache of one soul yearning for another, yet bound by the impossibility

There’s a love I can't have,
and it sits in the quiet spaces between us
a thing I’ve never said,
but feel in every look,
every word that almost slips out.

I catch myself imagining
what it would be like
to let you be more than just a shadow
in my thoughts
to say the things I hide
in the corners of my heart
and watch your smile soften
in a way I know I’ll never see.

I reach for you
in the silence of my own mind,
but the gap between us is a distance
I can never cross.
It’s a door that’s always closed,
a road I can never walk.

I want to tell you
that I care in ways
I’ve never dared to say,
but I bury it
because I know
you are a love
that belongs to someone else,
a dream
I will never wake from.

Still,
I carry you with me
like a song I can’t quite hum,
like the taste of something sweet
that vanishes the moment I try to hold it.
And though I can’t have you,
I’ll keep you,
quietly,
in the places only I know
are mine.