SILENCE

I'll never tell you how much I cried that night,
or how far I walked until my legs buckled and I collapsed.

In the middle of the street I had fallen to my knees,

I had cursed your name with every miserable, shaking breath.

If I'm so important to you, then why do you make me invisible?

If I'm just another mistake, then I'm sorry for ever loving you at all;
I've never been the type to take this kind of fall.
Ever since we met I knew I wasn't good enough for you.
On your front porch was the night we quit telling lies,
began to accept the inevitable:
I'm who you thought you wanted,
not someone you actually needed.
I had tried to force the words we both always knew,
and you just sighed, rolled your eyes, and walked away.
Your silence speaks all the words our lips ever failed to say.
This time when we said goodbye,
maybe we'll actually mean it.

S.B.