You Won’t Stay Here

You can’t stay here
You may stay here, should you choose
You are wanted here, by many, without a doubt
But it’s written all over every cell of your body
That you can not stay here
That you will not stay here

You say you don’t know what the future holds
But I think you sense this too:
You must drift until you find your anchor
And that anchor is not here 

Maybe someday that will change
But the world is so large, and this city is so small
With so few people built in the right shape
To fill the cracks in your lungs when you take in their breath
There are so few people here
Who could speak the words to melt you in place
Like a candle held in place with its own wax
Heated throughout by a close flame  
Such a treasure may as well be across borders
Across an ocean, so far from here

I want you to stay here
I need you here
It will hurt so badly when I have to see you off
But your anchor is out there, so very far from me
I can’t keep you here any more than I could an animal
That is ready to return to the wild 

I know that nothing lasts forever
But some endings hurt more than others 

When it’s time for you to go far from here
I won’t know where I stand
I won’t know where to cry

.

July 26 – 30(?), 2025