Now, What?

I don’t know why it hurts so much
when I realize
you talk about things
I don’t even have.

I’m not chubby
like you keep saying.
I’m not small
like you keep imagining.

I don’t know
who you’ve created in your head—
but I kept pretending
I was happy to hear it.

One day, I read a story:
a girl grew her hair long and red,
like the fairy she dreamed of.

But her man didn’t like it.
He told her to cut it short,
dye it brown.
She did.

He still cheated.
And the girl was left
crawling under the shower,
drowning in hair
she never wanted.

Everyone knows—
you can’t make someone stay
if they’ve already decided to go.

And maybe the cruelest mistake in love
is pretending to impress someone
when you were never
even on his mind.