I wish I would’ve let you hold me just a little while longer.

I wish I would’ve let you kiss me a little more.

I wish I would’ve let you continue to touch my skin, run your hands through my hair, caress the features on my face; I wish I would’ve let you stay.

I knew I couldn’t. I knew it was time to say goodbye. I knew we were doing the right thing. I knew it, and yet

I wish it had gone any other way.

I wish that the feelings alone were enough to make us work.
I wish that loving you, being loved by you, I wish that was all it took.
I wish our timing was right.
I wish rights were just right and without any wrongs.
I wish we weren’t just a chapter.
I wish we were the epilogue.

I knew it was time to say goodbye.
But I still smell the space on my pillow where your curly hair rested against it as you looked at me that way you do.
I still feel the way it felt when you pulled me close as I cried, how you kissed the top of my head tenderly.
I still hear the reverberations of our laughter, the things we said in unison, the way we finished each other’s sentences and shared our deepest fears.

We said goodbye to this version of us.
We knew it was time.
We knew it was what we needed to do.
And one day soon, I hope my heart knows it too.