You, Had You Stayed

In a sense, our minds probably
predicted this kind of outcome.

But the angel in you and
the rebel in me
took the reigns
and lashed our horses
into a world where we
were strangers
and nothing you and I
could say or do
could determine
the color of our future.

With eyes so red with toxic desire,
I contemplated freedom in the form
of loss.
And I gave it up.

  You.

Had you stayed, I would have
continued to build forts
all over and around me,
walls so high, and so thick,
even the devil himself
would give up on me
and walk away.

But you didn’t really need that much motivation.

And maybe I remember far more
than you ever would. And maybe
I’ll forever be preoccupied by the intention
of forgetting.