Twenty-One Days

they say it takes twenty-one days to break a habit.
but you were never a habit

you were something I let happen

and somewhere along the way
I started learning how to choose myself
in a place that didn’t feel like home

so I’m not finishing the days

not because I don’t feel it—
I do

I still think of you
I still miss you

but I don’t need twenty-one days
to know I can walk away

I don’t need to prove it
by repeating the same ache
over and over again

what we had was real
even if it was brief

and I’m grateful for it—
not because it stayed,
but because it showed me
I still know how to feel

and now,
I know how to leave

JMS