Artwork - Dylan Jacob Suarez

The Law of Refraction

Thelma C. Johnson

When light meets water, it bends—not breaks,

It shifts its path for beauty’s sake.

So too does love, when truths collide,

It curves in silence, tries to hide.

We came together, bold and bright,

Like parallel beams in perfect flight.

But through your depths, I saw distortion,

My heart, refracted in proportion.

The medium changed—your colder gaze,

Turned fire to frost in subtle haze.

And I, still chasing what we were,

Became a ghost inside a blur.

But physics tells us bending light

Is still the same, though not in sight.

So if I changed to reach your core,

It’s still me—just... something more.

I learned to shift, to arc, to sway,

To touch you in a different way.

Like rainbows born through shattered glass,

Love lives in what we're forced to pass.

Published: March 27, 2025