...

I can still feel the heat
from her hand when she held mine.
The same way I feel the beat
of my heart when I think of her.

It's an awful feeling; Being close enough to touch her and knowing she is still a million miles from me. This brown eyed beauty who holds my heart in her hand and doesn't want it. All she wants is my friendship. So what is there to do? Be her friend and have the joyous wonder of her company or walk away and deal with the pain now rather than later?

And that's the nub of the issue. What's the best time, not that there is ever going to be a good time, to take the heartbreak that I know is waiting at the end of the line like a solid concrete buffer seen from the front of the runaway train that this Love is. Now or later?

If I walk away now the heartache will be acute and direct. If I stay and try to be just a friend, hide my feelings deep inside and try not to let them spill out, the heartache will be the same. It'll hurt just as much but I'll at least get the pleasure of being close to her. For a short time. With the accompanying distance between us.