Between Bruises & Blooms

That’s the tragedy.

I would have stayed.

Through your fear.

Through your mess.

Through every ugly little thing
you thought
made you impossible to love.

I wasn’t asking
for perfection.

I wasn’t even asking
for easy.

I was asking
for honesty.

For presence.

For you
to reach toward me
instead of disappearing
every time love
started feeling real.

I would’ve fought
beside you.

But I will not fight
against you
for the privilege
of loving you.

There is a difference.

And it took your absence
to teach me.

So yes—

I would have stayed.

But you made leaving
the only place
I had left to go.