No footsteps today.
No stories.
No hands pressed against the wood.12Please respect copyright.PENANA8RagPyaJU0
No voice asked for warmth.
Only the wind, soft through the window.12Please respect copyright.PENANAosXLouclbn
Only the fire, steady, without hunger.12Please respect copyright.PENANA2U7sIclUUN
Only me.
And that has always been enough.
I poured no drink. I lit no lantern.12Please respect copyright.PENANAXW7EQMA6Gt
I watched the dust float in slow circles.
I opened the ledger one last time.
The pages felt… ready.
I did not write to be remembered.12Please respect copyright.PENANASL6eKs8Jf1
I did not write for others.
I wrote because this place listens,12Please respect copyright.PENANATkKiVp3qAq
and sometimes, I needed to hear myself live.
So here it is:
I do not know what waits beyond the tavern door.12Please respect copyright.PENANAvngKE8VCsk
I never needed to.
Because they came to me.12Please respect copyright.PENANAMur3cGBDRE
And in return, I gave what I could.
A chair. A cup.12Please respect copyright.PENANA3IiJXNjHSS
A silence that held rather than judged.
I have nothing more to give.12Please respect copyright.PENANAPIN7Gsm5Cs
And that means, finally,12Please respect copyright.PENANApaveMeShsC
everything I gave was real.
I close this book now—not to end,12Please respect copyright.PENANATDyNE61d4x
but because the pages are full.12Please respect copyright.PENANAbp5Gjlkyoi
Because the fire has heard enough.
Because the stillness no longer needs a name.
If someone opens this again—12Please respect copyright.PENANAX4RcOcL3JB
they are welcome.
But they do not need me.
They will have the tavern.
They will have what they brought with them.
And perhaps, if the fire leans just right,12Please respect copyright.PENANAZUwOxtDSfQ
they will have a little more.
The ink dries as I finish this.
I set the pen down.
The chair creaks once.
The fire bows.
And then—
silence.
ns216.73.216.82da2