You were packing boxes

Talking like the door was locked

Saying this apartment

Felt like someone else’s plot

I was washing dishes

Just to keep my hands from shake

You said

"We’re running circles

Round a promise we won’t make"

You stared at the hallway

I stared at your keys

Both of us waiting

For someone to speak

When we were almost broken

Hanging by a thread and a late-night word

When every angry sentence

Was the sharpest thing we’d ever heard

We could have walked away then

Called it lost and closed that chapter down

But you took one step closer

Said

"I’m still here

I’m still around"

This is our story

Unspoken

From when we were almost broken

All our little landmines

Sticky notes and silent days

Sleeping on the edges

Of a bed that wouldn’t sway

You wrote

"I feel lonely"

On a wrinkled grocery list

Left it on the counter

Like a dare I couldn’t miss

You leaned on the doorway

Eyes red

But brave

Said

"If we’re gonna save this

I can’t be half-way"

Remember the Tuesday

Rain on the glass

Laundry on the floor

Photo from the past

We sat on the carpet

Backs to the wall

You said

"I hate the distance

More than I hate the fall"

I whispered

"I’m sorry"

You said

"So am I"

We wrote our first truce

On the back of a sigh

Now every time we argue

I still see that room

Two tired hearts deciding

Not to be our doom

Now there’s plants in the windows

Laughter in the hall

We still drop our armor

Still hit the occasional wall

But whenever we’re trembling

On that same thin line

We remember being almost broken

And choosing to stay

This time