To the Boy I Regret Not Embracing

I hate to ask, but—
how have you been?
Did you ever make peace with your demons?
Did you grow into the man you wanted to be,
or are you still a lost boy,
trapped in the weight of your emotions?

Are you still keeping the wrong company,
or have you finally found your way out?
Whatever path you've chosen,
I hope regret doesn’t haunt you
the way it haunts me.

I regret never telling you I loved you,
even if you might not have loved me back.
I fought my feelings, convinced
we were both bad for each other,
two souls with wounds too deep
to heal in each other’s arms.

Somewhere between growing up
and staying young,
we got lost—
trapped in the spaces between
what was and what could have been.

You may not have been my first love,
but you had everything it took to be the one.
And I hope you find peace—
someone who will love you
the way I couldn’t,
who will embrace your flaws
the way I never did.

Heaven knows I wanted to.
But I was already carrying too much,
and I couldn’t bear the weight of us, too.

To the boy whose feelings for me
remained a mystery—
I loved you, even if you didn’t love me back.
And I won’t stop hoping
you found the happiness
I couldn’t give you.