Lovely Bones

I mistook you for an arrow, To launch me to better days. But you were a bullet, And my heart wasn’t seeing straight. I stitch myself, Back together with words, I use a poem, To numb where it hurts. I write my name a thousand times, To forget yours.

1. It’s not love if you’re crying your eyes out every single night while he sleeps peacefully next to you. 2. It’s not love if you feel like you must follow all of his commands or he won’t want you. 3. It’s not love if his teasing comments hurt you, instead of making you laugh. 4. It’s not love if you’re the one who always apologizes, even when it’s not your fault. 5. It’s not love if you live in fear that he will walk away if you do things he doesn’t like. 6. It’s not love if you must give up a part of what makes you, you. It’s mental abuse.

I plucked all the flowers you planted in my head, And I have stopped picturing your rose petals, Scattered across my bed. I clipped all the butterflies you flew through my mind, And I have deleted our story, I’ve erased every line.