I am learning to release you.
To define myself without
to pull other things in
to forgive myself in spite of
and be whole.
I am learning I never needed you,
however painful it is to admit.
I wanted to.
I believed it for a time.
Because what was I doing those ten long years
if not learning to love myself?
I was learning to love you.
A work I do not regret,
but that leaves me hollow
to think how it was not returned in kind.