I loved you with the quiet hope
that one day your heart would turn toward mine.
A gentle wish whispered into the night,
like the first line of Rainbow Connection
drifting across still water.

But you stood on the shore
never stepping closer
never letting me enter the world
where your friends and family live.
You kept me in the shadows
a place for touch but not belonging
a heartbeat held at arm’s length.

And I tried
I truly tried
to give more and show more
to move slowly into your light.
Yet every step I took toward you
pushed you further away
as if love itself was something dangerous.

So here I stand
holding the pieces of a future
that will never take shape.
You wanted a world without commitment
without the threads that join two souls.
You wanted the rainbow
but never the bridge that leads to it.

Still I hear the song play softly in my chest
Why are there so many
songs about rainbows
and what is on the other side

Maybe heartbreak is part of that mystery.
Maybe some rainbows end
in places we cannot follow
no matter how deeply we love
the colours in their sky.

I walk away loving you
and knowing you could not love me back.
A connection only half made
half dreamed
half held.

But one day
I will find the rainbow meant for me
the one that does not fade
when I reach out my hand.