Later

I am told
later
so often
it begins to sound like a location.

Not a refusal.
Not an agreement.
A pause that never ends.

Later.
We’ll see.
Let’s see what happens.

Time passes.
Nothing changes.

I don’t need enthusiasm.
I don’t need agreement.
I need honesty.

Say no.
Say you don’t want to.
Say you won’t.

I can plan around truth.

What I can’t plan around
is delay dressed up as kindness.

So I stop asking.

And when you notice—
when you finally ask—
it feels sudden to you.

It isn’t.

I left
the room you kept me waiting in.