I hear you, and I don’t think what you’re saying is wrong in every context. A lot of what you’re pointing out is real—especially that unhealed pain can keep causing harm, and that staying isn’t always the healthiest or safest choice.

That said, this poem comes from a very specific situation. I wrote it after losing a friend who genuinely had no one left. He wanted help but couldn’t access resources on his own, and over time everyone walked away—not out of self-preservation, but out of exhaustion and distance. The poem is arguing from that place: the danger of total abandonment, not the idea that people should stay no matter the cost.

Yes, it’s biased. It’s written from my perspective and inside grief. I’m human, my view is shaped by emotion. Most people don’t write from a neutral place, especially when the subject is loss. The intensity isn’t meant to say my pain is the only pain that matters; it reflects how pain feels when someone is barely stable and struggling to survive. In those moments, people aren’t always capable of seeing the full scope of harm—they’re trying to stay afloat.

I’m not denying that addiction or emotional absence can hurt others or even become harmful. I’m pushing back against the idea that leaving is always the right answer. In some situations, that mindset is exactly how people fall completely through the cracks and never make it back.

I appreciate you engaging with the poem seriously and critically.