when i was younger
i believed that love
was a constant
like the speed of light
absolute
immune to the cruel hands
of time

then i lost you

and the world
became a particle experiment
that kept collapsing
into grief

physicists say
two particles
can become entangled
and even when ripped
to opposite ends
of existence
they remain linked
invisible threads
pulling, tugging
screaming
i know you.

so tell me, love
after all these years
why does my heart
still shift
when someone speaks
your name

it feels unfair
doesn't it
how the universe
still hums
with the shape of you
when i've tried
so very hard
to let it die
inside me

sometimes
i dream in equations
i barely understand:
uncertainty
probability
parallel worlds
us in every one of them
except this.

in a different timeline
i think i am brave enough
And wise enough
to keep you

in that universe
your hand never slips
from mine
we never pull apart
like unstable atoms
that should never have collided
in the first place

but here
in this cold
observable reality
i stand alone
with the ghost of you
pressing fingerprints
on my ribs

the textbooks promise
nothing is truly destroyed
not energy
not matter
not the trembling voice
i still hear
when i close my eyes
and remember
how you said my name then
like a prayer
you wished
you never had to stop

the scientists call it
conservation

i call it
heartbreak.

either way
the universe still holds you
softly
like something
too sacred
to fully let go.

some nights
when the stars burn
a little too bright
i swear
i feel you
burning with them

entangled.

i became
my own black hole:
pulling every memory
into myself
trapping them
playing them
on an endless loop
until i forgot
where the past ended
and the present began.

i wonder
how many pieces of me
you're walking around with.
i wonder
if you ever feel
the longing.