I’m not one to have many friends
who stick around the fraying ends
of life that makes a tree trunks’ bends
seem all that more concerning.

I am not one whose grip will tighten
once these people are enlightened
of the childish freak all much too frightened
of someone else’s yearning.

To say goodbye is not a need
when their removal means you’re freed
of negativity you would feed
without any intention.

To say goodbye without it said
is now a ritual I can’t dread
because it’s what my illness led
to without intervention.

So every time they disappear,
the people whom I loved so dear
My brain won’t even shed a tear
because she saw it coming.

Yet now I must swallow to speak
The goodbye that I’d never seek
The goodbye that might make me weak
and stifle the heart’s drumming.

I’ll say these words with heavy heart,
because I knew right from the start
some day our ways would have to part.
“It’s okay if you leave me.”