Rishi Mendez

There was no desperation in the parting. No tears, no hands clung.  Just two souls, standing in the sunlight after the storm, knowing they had finally seen each other whole. You smiled, quietly, the kind that says, I carry you, but I don't need to hold you. They reached for your hand, not to keep, just to feel the warmth one last time. "Take care of your world, " they said, and meant it. "And you, ", you answered, "tend to your joy." Then you turned, with grace, as if love had done what it came to do.
You returned to your life. To work and laptops, dishes to be made, laughter, children needing stories, Your duties and unfolding days. They returned to theirs, to work , to journeys , to long walks under skies that once held your name. The thread remained, a pull, a golden line stretching through time, silent but alive. This is what peace looks like, not forgetting, not holding on,  but walking forward with the knowing that you loved, and were loved, and that was enough.