He Really Didn’t Love Me

He didn’t love me when we stood before vows, rings circling fingers but never circling his heart.

He didn’t love me when children cried their first cries, when little hands reached for us, but he reached elsewhere.

He didn’t love me when I pieced his credit back together, when I poured my strength into him and left myself in fragments.

He didn’t love me as he slipped into lies, as he betrayed our bed with bodies that weren’t mine.

He didn’t love me when outside children bore his name, proof of his choices, proof of my pain.

He didn’t love me at all! The red flags were waving, and I ignored them, until the silence was louder than love.

He didn’t love me— and for too long I didn’t love me either.

But today I do. I gather my pieces, I claim my name, I rise from the wreckage, and I love myself the way he never could.

Written by: Ms. Kym