Name three reasons why we should stay together? I asked.
His blank expression needed no words.
Name one then? I continued.
You've got it, he replied.
I cried
that night.
The fight
finally lost.

Cost counting
came next.
Year after year
wearier and tear-ier.
You don't see it coming until it hits.
The loneliness; the loss of self.
Then the denial, that's something else.
Name three reasons why I stayed? I asked myself
and some.