I'm Sorry It's Time

I’m sorry it’s time

The clock has been whispering

For weeks

But I kept turning it face down

Pretending silence

Meant mercy

I’m sorry it’s time

And the air feels thinner

Around the truth

Even the light knows

It falls differently now

Careful not to touch

What’s already ending

I’m sorry I held on

Long after the rope

Burned my hands

I thought if I stayed still enough

The moment would pass me by

Like weather

But it didn’t

It waited

I’m sorry it’s time

And all the words I practiced

Sound smaller

Than the ache they carry

There’s no elegant way

To close a door

That once opened so wide

I’m sorry it’s time

Not because I doubt it

But because I know

What leaving costs

The quiet rearranging

Of a life

The soft collapse

Of a hope

I’m sorry it’s time

And I’m walking forward anyway

Hands empty

Heart steady

Trying to believe

That endings

Are just another way

To begin