Separated

An end and a beginning,
a death and a life.
Small-town mores,
family values – and taboos —
yell no!, demand perseverance.
Still, another path exists,
a frightful one, a path that feels
like failure, like not-good-enough.
Yet I know I’ve tried for years,
I’ve sacrificed my self-esteem
on the alter of pleasing, of expectations.
The marriage is dead and cannot live.
I’m not like pharaoh’s wives,
required to be buried with the corpse.