Things I Regret

I should have stopped it.
I should have protected you.
I shouldn't have denied it.
I shouldn't have let you go.

You cried on the staircase,
Head in your hands,
Tears on your dress,
While sobs racked your frame.

You hid alone
With bloody wrists
And leaking eyes
And never realized I knew.

You ran from home
To find another,
And never discovered
That you couldn't belong there.

You came back
With bruises on your body
And brushed them aside
As if nothing was ever wrong.

You stared at the pills
In the cabinet
Until they drove you crazy,
Tempting your suffering soul.

You gave me a last hug
And said, "I love you,"
Before you went
Into the bathroom.

You locked the door
And flooded the tub
And swallowed the pills
And hit the floor.

And you made me realize--
As I broke down
The bathroom door--
That I should have stopped it.

You made me realize--
As I knelt in the water
And picked you up so tenderly--
That I should have protected you.

You made me realize--
As I clutched your cold body
And stroked your wet hair--
That I shouldn't have denied it.

You made me realize--
As I sat weeping
And crying into your shoulder--
That I shouldn't have let you go.