# Where Silence Learns My Name @

This poem explores the quiet spaces of the heart where love lingers without possession. It reflects on the bittersweet beauty of memories, the pain of letting go, and the realization that some people are not meant to stay—but to shape who we become.

# Where Silence Learns My Name #

There are places in my heart
no map has ever known—
quiet corners
where memories sit like old letters,
unopened,
but never forgotten.

I live there.

Not loudly,
not like a storm that demands attention,
but like a slow evening light
that refuses to leave
even when the night insists.

I have tried to name what they are—
love, perhaps…
or the echo of it.
But words are clumsy things,
and you—
you have always been more feeling than form.

Some nights,
I hear you in the silence between breaths,
in the pause between thoughts,
in the spaces where I almost forget
and then… don’t.

It’s strange—
how someone can be both
a wound and a warmth,
a goodbye that never quite ends,
a presence that absence cannot erase.

I held on once—
with hands full of hope,
with a heart that believed
staying was another word for forever.
But forever, I’ve learned,
is a fragile promise
spoken too easily by the human soul.

So now,
I don’t chase what slips away.

I sit with what remains—
the quiet,
the ache,
the soft, unspoken truth
that some people
aren’t meant to stay in our lives…

they’re meant to stay
in our becoming.

And maybe that’s enough.

Yes, love isn’t about holding on,
but about carrying gently—
like a song you no longer sing
but somehow still remember.

So I let you be—
not mine,
not lost,
just…

a part of my silence
where I finally learned
how to whisper my own name.

(Vijay Verma)
www.retiredkalam.com



Categories: kavita

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24 replies

  1. A good example of why letting go of people (and things) might just be the most loving and healthy thing we can do for others and for ourselves. It is better to recall the happy memories than long for new ones. Have a wonderful day. Allan

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thank you, Allan. That’s a gentle and honest way of putting it. Letting go isn’t easy, but sometimes it really is the kindest choice—for everyone involved. Holding on to the good memories without forcing what can’t be recreated brings a quiet kind of peace.

      I appreciate your thoughtful words. Wishing you a wonderful day as well. 🙏✨

      Liked by 2 people

  2. This is a beautiful and deeply moving poem. It perfectly captures that delicate transition from the pain of loss to the peace of self-discovery.
    The line “some people aren’t meant to stay in our lives… they’re meant to stay in our becoming” is truly powerful.
    It shifts the perspective of “goodbye” from an ending to a form of growth, recognizing how that person helped shape the soul that remains.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Lifetime Chicago's avatar

    Beautiful poem. I love the description of a person who can be a wound or a warmth. It really shows how people grow and change but how they helped shape your life.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thank you so much 🤍
      I’m really glad that line stayed with you—the idea of someone being both a wound and a warmth felt very true to me. People don’t always fit into just one feeling, and sometimes it’s that contrast that shapes us the most.

      Liked by 2 people

  4. I’m not the most religious person in the world, but I’ve had some deep conversations with the minister of our church.

    That’s poem reflects somewhat of that discussion. In that discussion, I questioned the existence of God and he said to me.

    Mark, have you ever experienced a piece of music that brought tears to your eyes or read a book that moved you?

    He said that is God.

    Liked by 2 people

    • That’s a powerful exchange—and honestly, it sticks with you.

      I like how your minister didn’t try to “prove” anything in a rigid way. Instead, he pointed to something you’ve actually felt. Those moments when music hits you unexpectedly, or a book opens something inside you—you don’t analyze them in that instant, you just experience them. And they feel… real.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Touching and beautiful poem ❤

    Liked by 2 people

  6. A profound poem Verma. Beautiful and a tad heartbreaking. I really enjoyed today’s prose! Good work 😀

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thank you—that’s really kind of you to say. I’m glad the piece resonated with you, even with that slight ache in it. Sometimes those bittersweet notes are what make a poem feel honest and alive.

      I truly appreciate you reading and sharing your thoughts—it means a lot. 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  7. A beautifully tender reflection—capturing love that lingers softly between memory and longing. 💫

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thanks for appreciation.💫

      There’s something quietly powerful about love that doesn’t disappear, but instead settles into memory—less like a sharp feeling and more like a soft presence that stays with you. It doesn’t always ask to be spoken aloud; sometimes it just exists in those pauses, in familiar thoughts, in unexpected moments of reflection.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. very nice .

    Liked by 2 people

  9. I am taken into a place of deep introspection regarding the power of push and pull. We all have relationships with entities we need to let go off. Putting the words to this process is challenging. You did this well. So enjoyed reading it.

    Liked by 2 people

    • That’s a really thoughtful way to engage with it—and I’m glad it resonated with you.

      That “push and pull” you mention is such a real part of human experience, especially when it comes to attachments we intellectually know we should release but emotionally still feel tied to. Putting that into words is always tricky because it lives in that uncomfortable in-between space—neither fully holding on nor fully letting go.

      Liked by 1 person

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