We felt it shift beneath the floor
A hairline crack across the room
We turned the volume down instead
Let daylight blur the bruise
We watched the air grow slightly thin
Watched language start to bend
We chose the quiet over rupture
Let the fracture mend itself
Not now.
Not here.
We kept the peace.
We kept it clean.
We kept our hands
Out of the scene.
The darker voices found their shape
The sharper words began to stay
We measured consequence in sleep
And turned our faces half away
We called it balance.
Called it time.
Let something root between the lines.
Not ours.
Not yet.
We kept the peace.
And fed the fire.
We kept the peace.
And built it higher.
Nothing loud.
Nothing sudden.
Just space.
And something growing in it.
We kept the peace.
And watched it spread.
We kept the peace.
And lost the ground.
You were not afraid of evil.
You were afraid of conflict.