Half

How did we get to this point?
How did 20 years become
so insignificant?
In 20 years
I never cheated on you.
I never chose alcohol over you.
I never chose drugs over you.
I put up with your judgmental parents,
and your antagonizing brother,
and your supercilious friends.
I held your hand
and brushed your tears away
every time you felt slighted.
I paid for your education
and carried us through
your unemployment.
I pulled the strings
to get you a job
and put up with your late nights
and your traveling.
I forgot our plan
to have three children
when you decided on none.
I never questioned your commitment
or fidelity,
but I wish I had.
Now you want to leave.
You are in love
for the first time
in your life,
or so you say.
I was 20 when we met
and am 40
now that you want to leave.
I gave everything I had
for twenty long years
and you didn’t.
Your contribution has been
so small
and now you want half.
Half of everything
we have,
half of everything
I built,
half of everything
I gave.
Math was never your strong suit
and half of our imagined life
isn’t worth
half our fractured reality.
How did we get to this point?
How can 20 years be perceived
so very differently?