Photo by Nadine Shaabana on Unsplash

Please love me, she said.
Please don’t leave, I will do anything.

Anything I thought, anything but what is best.
You are not good for me and I’m not good for you.
I have come to realize that and to stay will be the end of me.
It will be the end of you also.

How can I love myself knowing I’m bringing you down?
How can you love me knowing I will destroy you?
It is better that we end this now, let the pain happen now.

Not years from now when we will be worn out and comfortable.
Not months from now when we are getting used to this decline.
Not next week when we are both faking it.
Let it happen now.

When I am strong and know that this is right.

— Nicole Barden 1/16/2021

Originally published in Know Thyself, Heal Thyself on Medium