“For you,” a woman said,
to correct my phrasing
that suggested his aid
was unwanted,
or intrusive.

Truth is, I admit,
I would not have stopped myself.
I felt no betrayal by him
for he was not overreacting.
My bitterness when I said
that he went 911 on me,
is more a reflection of my anger
that I did not act sooner.

I had a chance—
the urge, even,
and though my means were questionable,
they could have worked.

But during my hesitation,
the men in uniform drove up
and knocked on my front door
and startled my roommates
and took me away,
mortified, in the back seat.

Caught, thwarted was I...
but as I headed in the night
toward the mental hospital,
where they take people like me,
I was simultaneously in awe
that he cared this much.