Light as a Feather

I am forced to smile—to laugh

As you lie to my face

—an act unbeknownst to you;

A sanctity too buried within

That you can not see

The way it piles dirt on my living body,

Turning this home into a corpse-to-be.

A killing stare:

Your hatred slithers around your figure,

An aura of danger warning me

Of soul-shredding conversations

Where we tip-toe on your bed of nails

While my body turns frigid, stiff as a board,

Condemned to live out the story you’ve painted.

The canvas is dry and flaking,

Peeling away the veil

You used to cover me

—to shield me from the world—

To reveal a modicum of a soul not hacked to bits

By thorns you camouflaged with beautiful roses

So alluring I believed I’d found something new under the sun.

I searched for a way to exist

Underneath your spell

Even when I didn’t know myself

Because nothing could ever contain my magic

So I severed the ties that you tangled (strangled) me with

As I started to let myself believe

And I’ve never felt so weightless.