LETTING GO

She let them go. But they never really left

It was hard.

She missed them constantly. But she didn’t have a choice.

Life was too much. Time was too little. And for them, her children, there was never enough of either.

So she let them go.

She woke up running toward their rooms, forgetting they weren’t there. She cried herself to sleep. Work was the only place that didn’t ache.

She lost herself. Disappeared into productivity.

The longing didn’t fade. It didn’t evolve. It didn’t shapeshift into something poetic or noble.

It stayed exactly what it was: grief.