Dearest Gentle Readers

I write your name where none can see
Between the lines they read of me
Your voice still lingers in my room
Like perfume stitched in quiet gloom
We pass as strangers in the light
But meet again inside the night

They read the words I let them read
But not the truth I hide beneath

Dearest gentle readers, read
The things I never dared to speak
Every line I tried to hide
Carries you between the lines
Dearest gentle readers, true
Every word returns to you
In every pause, in every line
I write your heart into mine

I keep your letters out of sight
Folded deep in drawers at night
Each word you wrote still feels so near
A whispered truth I long to hear
Your touch still lives upon my skin
Like something I cannot give in

They praise the calm I always show
But never what I almost wrote

Dearest gentle readers, hear
A truth I hold too close, too near
Every line I write is you
Every silence feels it too
Dearest gentle readers, find
All the love I leave behind
Between the words I never say
You are the truth I hide away

If I were brave, I'd send this through
And let the whole world turn to you
But ink can only go so far
When hearts confess what letters are

Dearest gentle readers, now
I lay my secrets bare somehow
No more lines I hide between
No more silence dressed so clean
Dearest gentle readers, true
Every word was meant for you
No more ink to hide my heart
I choose you now, I choose the start