I said the distance did us good Made absence sound like something clean Filed every reason where it fit Then called the missing parts unseen I knew the route, I knew the hour I knew which sentence shut it down I told myself you had your life As if mine hadn't moved it around No scene to name, no final proof No single frame that settles blame So I kept polishing my exit Till consequence forgot my name But you still checked the second lock Still left one side of the table bare I was defending what I meant You had to live with what was there You carried days I never counted Quiet habits built around it Every answer I withheld Turned into work you did yourself What you kept was not your failure Not the whole of me, but it stayed I don't get to reach inside you And edit what my leaving made Your phone went face-down at my hour The kettle marked the rooms between You learned which names could start a question Which empty chair could change the scene I wasn't there to hear the version Form in the mouths I couldn't steer I only hated being pictured By anything I wouldn't hear Called memory a crooked witness When it refused to take my side But you were holding all the weight I made abstract so I could hide I want to say you got me wrong That want is mine, not yours to bear I was protecting who I was You had to live with who was there You carried days I never counted Quiet habits built around it Every answer I withheld Turned into work you did yourself What you kept was not your failure Not the whole of me, but it stayed I don't get to reach inside you And edit what my leaving made I CAN'T DEMAND A KINDER MEMORY JUST BECAUSE I CAN'T STAND THE WEIGHT You kept the version that could function When I left you to explain You carried days I never counted Quiet habits built around it Every answer I withheld Turned into work you did yourself What you kept is not a verdict Not a debt that you must pay I don't get to reach inside you I don't get to choose what stayed My story isn't only mine Yours isn't mine to rearrange I know the door I walked away from I don't know all it made you change
