I won't be that girl,
the one who follows "the one"
because he's "the one".
or so she naively thinks.

I won't follow you,
never.  and certainly not
to another state-
all the way to Oberlin.

I won't change my mind,
change my life plans and life goals
just to be with you-
for I can survive alone.

I won't even look
for colleges where you do.
I'll stay in the east
and I'll be content with that.

I won't try to go.
So why am I applying
I will let you go.
to Baldwin-Wallace?

Ding- regret
I should stop checking
my email in the morning.
Because here I go:
another day worrying about you.

Ding- consideration
It's not your fault,
I know it's not.
But all of today
all I'll think about is you.

Ding- blame
What did you mean?
Is it my fault?
What did I do?
I just hope you're okay.

I must recognize impermanence.
The curtain falls,
Good-byes are said.

I sit here in the darkness, waiting.
The end will come,
Unaccepted.

This odd, close-knit family will be gone.
Yet it does stay,
Just in memory.

This wish is all that remains after.
Never forget
What we have done.
The magic made,
The illusion, the theatre.

You are my biggest supporter
my hardest critic.
If I write something, I ask you to read it.
You say it's good, then that's true
but if it's bad, you are right.
Unfortunately, you only get second-rate poems
Because the best that I write
are not for your eyes.
I value you too much to lose you.
Because if you read them,
         I would.