love

love

“it’s because i love you.”

those five measly words always whispered

every time he hurt me, every time i said, “no,” and he pretended he hadn’t heard me.

“it’s because i love you.”

every day without mercy

every time I wore something a little too short, or laughed at a joke that wasn’t his,

i would ask myself, “is this what love is?”

one day i tore away, i realized that

love is not burying yourself alive,

waking up with soil in your lungs and gravel in your eyes.

love is immersing yourself in sunlight and kissing in the rain

so that you both can bud and bloom into the brightest of flowers

for each other.

on that day, i tore away,

and i learned to love myself.