Branches Book

BRANCHES

V I am who I am, Unfortunately. I can’t stop talking, Even when I know my words will make you Lock yourself away. My voice refuses to be chained Like a lion who jumps and claws at the metal pillars that bound it, In an attempt to be free From you and your critique of me. As if with each passing second I am closer to being declawed. I refuse to be ignored, for the fear that I will be silenced.

I am a lion that wants to be tamed So my issues aren’t my own to take To control

To hold To carry To fix

And yet I know, that you, Or maybe someone better, Will control, hold, carry and fix me. Because broken people attract

Magnets couldn’t hold a flame to the fragmented But how are we supposed to care for the other When we can’t even care for ourselves– When we can’t Control ourselves

Hold ourselves Carry ourselves Fix ourselves We are the runts of the pack, the inadequate ones, the ones who are hollow Vacant to an outside eye When really we are the ones who internally are trying to growl: See what I am doing? Sacrificing myself for you. See what I am trying to be? A perfect partner, friend. Our attempts don’t seem to be working because you still see You study me and I you and we talk endlessly “I can’t do this anymore. It’s not fair to love someone who can’t love me.”

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