To Be Loved Enough (For LP)

It turns out

I didn’t love her enough

We were not lovers

We made no promises

I liked her company

She liked mine

But it turns out

I did not love her enough

To erase all the ways

She did not love herself

All the times she wanted

And did not get

All the people she desired

But could not keep

And I tried, oh I tried

To be a friend to her

But nobody had ever

Loved her enough

For her to feel worthy

She didn’t know what

It would look like

But imagined it would

Erase memories of a distant mother

Anger over a silent father

Fear of being alone

That somehow it would

Start her life over

Let her forget or reinvent

Leave behind regrets

It never occurred to her

To ask for what she wanted

Besides, what would love look like

To a soul who had

Never loved

Her own small

Beautiful self?