Your Poison

Your Poison

Broken smiles and battle scars
Cover me from the collateral damage
Your promises left unfulfilled
The vows you swore to keep
All those nights in bed
You slept on the other side
Silently rejecting me
Ripped apart my hope
Wore out my heart
And left me freezing in the dark.

Never in a million years did I think
Your retreating to other places
People you said mattered more
Meant I got punished
For loving you with devotion
All those times I did for you
Anything you asked
Made me a pauper
Bullying me to my knees
Begging for breadcrumbs.

What I asked for in return is gone
Never was there because
“I love you” were empty words
Everyday propaganda
You spoke like candy
Sweet but oh so phony
You wore a mask
Hiding your venom
I drank your poison
And I’m lucky to be alive.

Copyright © 2023 Charles Edward York
No part of this poem may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any way or form or by any means electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the author.*