I can find

So many reasons to go

And so many excuses to stay

In a struggle between self freedom

And self-less duty of my sworn word.

I list them -

Catalogue, examine, justify, deny

Like jeweled fungi or beetles

Under the lens of pitiless truth.

So do I stay or do I go?

What will tip the scales?

Jealous temper or surrender

Fight or flight, 'tis all the same.

To leave - rip apart the daily fabric

Weave a new pattern - gypsy-quilt

Kill you with aloneness for me-ness

One of us must die..

To stay -  grudgingly, resentfully

Making you pay in all those subtle little ways

Resigned to this being all

And hate you a little more each day.

Go - to all the what ifs and endless possibilities

Clear-eyed and unafraid?

Or in the end am I only exchanging

One trap for another cage?