NORTH LET GO

The Quiet Life We Never Reached

<sup><sub>I pictured dogs and kids and fields in bloom,
A porch wrapped in the hush of evening air,
A place where even ghosts gave up their gloom,
And healing lived in coffee, light, and care..
I loved you – more than silence, more than sleep.
But loving you meant bleeding just to cope.
You fed the thing that dragged you down too deep,
While I kept tossing you my last frayed rope.

You drank again, while I was full of fear,
Still climbing through the dark on newer meds.
You walked away. And maybe that was loud.
But love that broke me shouldn’t make you proud.
I wanted us. I never strayed from true.
But being true should never cost me too.</sub></sup>