I kept talking because the silence felt worse,

and I know you were already pulling away

but I thought if I said enough words, the right ones

might accidentally fall out, and you would hear me

the way I needed you to hear me, not the way

I actually sounded, which was desperate and unkind.

The worst part is I rehearsed it in my head

and it was supposed to be three sentences,

clean and clear and kind, but what came out

was everything I'd been holding since October,

all at once, all wrong, all too late.