After You, I Will
After you, I will
Spend hours sweeping out my house
Mopping the floors
Following the mop with the steamer I bought
That you joked I’d never use
After you, I will
Clean out the closets
And organize the drawers
I will make a pile of clothes I don’t love anymore
The way you don’t love me
And I will donate them to a shelter
After you, I will
Smudge the house and put a line of salt at the door
Just for good measure
Just in case
And I will set out fresh flowers
That I bought and light candles
That I will enjoy
After you, I will
Play music and dance alone
I will sing to myself and take
Long baths with bubbles and rose petals
After you, I will
Take long walks in the sunshine
I will hike through forests
Walk on peaceful shores
And I will run
After you, I will
Run like I am chasing the dream
That you never believed in
I will collect race medals
And do something I never thought I would
Like learn to swim so that even in the water
I can move away from you
After you, I will
Learn a new language
Letting my tongue shape new words
In a world that’s grown foreign to me
I will read more books
And watch all the movies you so easily dismissed
The way that you dismissed me
After you, I will
Remind myself that I am worthy of love
I will take myself out on dates
And I will keep a heart so open
That when I meet someone worthy of it
They won’t have to knock down the wall you built
After you, I will
Cry and grow stronger
I will rage and shine brighter
I will not let the way you broke me
Keep me broken
After you, I will
Write poetry and books
And never again let my voice be silenced
After you, I will
Heal
After you, I will
Live
After you, I will
Be happy
I hope you’ll be happy, too.
