Never win

I kept a match inside my pocket

Just in case you wanted proof

You could strike it,

watch me vanish

Like you always wanted to

I learned to read between your silence

Learned to call your distance love

Every time I tried to leave you

You were somehow pulling me back up But I’m tired of reaching

For something that isn’t there

You can keep your excuses

I don’t need them anymore

I won’t drown just to keep you breathing I won’t break just

to keep you whole You had every piece I gave you Still

you wanted control If letting go means losing everything Then maybe that’s

what I need You can keep the memories But

you don’t get what’s left of me

There were nights I heard your footsteps

And still hoped you’d walk away

Funny how the fear of losing you

Was what kept me in that place

I confused the pain for passion

I mistook your cold for calm

Now the silence doesn’t scare me

It feels better than your arms

And I’m done with pretending

That this is something I can save

You can call me selfish

I’ll call it walking away

Maybe someday you’ll remember Someone loved you past the end

Someone stayed when they were shattered Someone thought you’d finally change But

I can’t be that person

Not another night, not another time I’m choosing what’s left of me

Before there’s nothing left to find I

won’t

drown just to keep you breathing

I won’t disappear for you

You can stand there in the ashes And pretend you never knew

I gave you more than I could carry Now I’m putting down

the weight

You don’t have to understand it— You just have to watch me

walk away