I Waited

Ai generated image.

I came with the idea
that something might change.
That if I sat still long enough,
it would find me.

The sea kept moving.
I didn’t.

At first, I counted days.
Then I counted shapes in the clouds.
Then I stopped counting.

There was time to leave.
Plenty of it.
But I stayed.
Not for hope,
just because leaving felt
like admitting I was wrong.

The wind peeled my name away.
The salt wore down my face.
And whatever I was waiting for
forgot I ever waited.

Now the chair holds
what’s left of the habit.
Just bone,
and the echo of a choice
that once felt brave.