"1. The day you leftwas the day I thoughtthat I could not continueliving if it meantliving..."

“1. The day you left

was the day I thought

that I could not continue

living if it meant

living without you.


2. On the second day

of your prolonged absence

nothing seemed worth

doing. Not as long

as you were not doing it

with me.


3. On the third day

I realized there would be

no sign of your return

and that I would have to

keep going. Even if

that meant going on

without you.


4. On the fourth day

my hands finally had

the strength to open the

blinds and to rid of

everything that reminded

me of you. It was difficult

and it took me most

of the day to be able to

push all of the memories

beneath my bed.


5. On the fifth day of living

on my own, I worked up

the courage to tell all

of our friends what had really

happened. How you just left

one morning without looking

back, or even locking

the doors. They haven’t

heard from you since.


6. On the sixth day

your best friend asked me

out for coffee, said he knew

where I could find you.

I said I didn’t want to know.

I would rather have you

lost than to know you were

out there somewhere

without me with you.


7. On the seventh day

I woke up to a still empty bed

and when I rolled over

on your side I could no longer

feel where your body

used to lay.


8. On the eighth day

I took all of your belongings

to the end of the driveway

for the trash man to take.

I didn’t care if you still

wanted any of it.


9. On the ninth day

you texted me, and it took me

half of the day to summon

the courage to even open it.

Inside it read, ” I still love you.

I’m sorry. Please, let me

come home.” I never replied.


10. On the tenth day

I changed the garage

combination, the locks on

the doors, my telephone

number and the color of my hair

that you loved so much.

You are no longer welcome

in my home, in my head

and in my heart.”

- "It took me 10 days to get over you," - Colleen Brown