Cartography

Fear is a coastline that does not hold,

always shifting, pulling back.

One morning, she left,

not with urgency, not with regret,

but with the sure-footed silence of someone

who already knew the way.

I looked for the lesson,

but there was none.

Only this.

That not all fears beg for answers,

that wanting to stay is not the same

as wanting to be held,

that some people prefer a door ajar-

not to enter,

but to know they could.