Did you ever think of staying?
Or was leaving the only way
you knew how to love me?

Was I too much,
or not enough?
Did I ask for things
you couldn’t give,
or did you offer less
than you were able?

I wonder if you held back your truth
to protect me,
or to protect yourself
from watching me fall apart.

The answers don’t come.
But the questions—
they stay.
Lodged somewhere between
my ribs and my memory,
quiet,
persistent,
unanswered.

I could trace the days before you left,
Each one certain, unshaken —
Love blooming beneath our feet.
We built forever without fear.

But the day came like a storm
I never saw darkening the sky.
No warning, no shifting winds,
No fluttering leaves to alert me.

Your words were quiet, deliberate,
Like you’d rehearsed them in the mirror.
You said it was what you needed to do,
A choice for your family — not for us.

But clarity can still wound.
Even understanding doesn’t soften the impact.
And now the air is heavy
With all I didn’t see coming.