is this how goodbye works? (Poem)

You said “till the end of the line.” 

Was that your’s or was it mine? 

You always knew how to leave clean

I am just the mess you left behind

When the war is all picked up, and the camps are moved

I’m what the hero leaves behind, broken and bruised 

Now that you are gone, I’m stuck in this empty house 

I am teaching myself to breathe in the silence you left behind

You made me believe I was more

Then the dog tags that are the hand around my neck

And the versions of me I left behind

When I saw you on our living room couch

With a journal in your hands, I thought it was healing

Was I just a story to close? 

Or a story that got too heavy, a thorn in your perfect rose?  

It was just your farewell address hidden in bittersweet goodbyes

It was the script where the main character dies

You looked at me before walking away 

Did grief never cross your mind? 

Was I something you used to fill up your spare time? 

You see, the people who are supposed to love me leave right on their cue 

First, it was a woman whose face was more of a shadow

A father who didn’t know how to hold a daughter who bled too much

And now you

The one who bled to stand up for those who couldn’t stand

And with bloodied knuckles, you reached for my hand

You believed in me… and Goodness that burns

You were the home that to, I could never return  

I wish you had told me that love like that doesn’t stay

You were always meant to up and walk away

I try not to let my heart fill with hurt and anguish when I think of you 

Because that’s not what love will always do 

Love doesn’t echo or vanish; it stays true

It sticks around like it has something to prove

You said “till the end of the line.” 

You never said that line ended with you