At Last, I’m Free

A Poem

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

happiness fled
the moment you left,
and I’d just sit there
in a cocoon of silence
till the tremors faded
and there was release
with the gush of sadness
leaking out my eyes

the tears were the first
and the last sign
that I could move on,
with or without you,
and come out
the other side
without the scars
to condemn me

oh, you left wounds
but they would heal —
I told myself, I told myself —
with time and care
and more than a little
dollop of self-love
while all your gifts
became doubt and hurt

pain was no stranger,
and I learned the lesson
as well as I could —
because there would be
moments I struggled
and times I wept
while you never cared
because you were gone