i watched us die slowly and deliberately
i watched as the loving gazes soon became worried glances
when the “i love you”s became less sweet and more feverish
as if it was not a proclamation of affection but a stake to claim
to pronounce ownership over something that was never yours in the first place
i said nothing when the tenderness i held for you withered away
replaced by tendrils of disgust and repulsion
instead i merely watched as your desperation grew into something twisted and delirious
threatening to entrap me as it consumed you completely
so i did what i know best
i laced up my shoes and left when you weren’t looking
gone with the rising golden sun perched behind the naked arms of evergreens
i basked in my freedom
let the warm rays shine down, illuminating and kissing my skin tenderly
a welcome back to the world i knew
while you fell apart
as the world you had fabricated for us shattered into minuscule fragments
created by your fantasy yet destroyed by my hands
you watched silently, helplessly
as the end began.