Somewhere Between His Heart and Dawn

He once told her,

“You are not my option.

You are my only choice.”

Not the kind of choice

the world announces loudly

but the quiet one

a man carries inside his day.

When morning opens his eyes,

before the world reaches him,

before work and voices and meetings, he looks at her picture.

Just for a moment.

Sometimes he wonders

if a message waited through the night, if her voice crossed the oceans while he slept.

And if it did

the day begins softer.

He once tried to explain it to her

in the way he knew how.

“When I work,” he said,

“you are in my heart.

And when my heart becomes too full, i move you gently

to my mind so I can finish what the day asks of me.

But you are always

in one of those places.”

She understood.

Because love like that

does not leave.

It simply moves

between two rooms.

His heart. His mind.

A small video.A message.

A few simple words.

Played once.Then again.

Then once more.

Not because they are new

but because they are hers.

Sometimes in the middle of work he lets one of those moments play, just long enough for a smile to escape.

Then he closes the box.

He had to learn that trick.

To place her carefully

in a quiet corner of his thoughts so life can keep moving.

Not because she left,

but because he never quite knew how to stay.

Evening comes.

The world grows quieter.

Before sleep gathers the day

back into darkness,

he looks once more at her picture.

Just like the morning.

And somewhere,

in that silent space

between sleep and dawn,

their souls meet again.

No promises. No explanations.

Just a knowing.

Because some people

are not meant to live loudly in our lives..

but quietly

in the hidden rooms of our hearts.

And there she remains.

Not forgotten.

Not replaced.

Only kept.

Where only he can find her.

And where,

if she listens closely enough

in the quiet hours before morning,

she may still

find him too.