No more lectures
I get it
I’m nothing, compared to you
I see your size
You have the power
At this point
You’re preaching to the choir
Do you feel that small
Need me to know
My smallness next to you
Who would we both be
If you held me up
And let me reach
My full height
Invisible hand
Grips my neck
Stifles my breath
Can’t break free
Of me, yet not
If I drown it
I drown me
There's something under my skin
Something grainy, irritating
I can't get to it, make it go away
Want to cut it out
Feels like him, still there, still taking what's mine alone to give
A pressure behind my neck
An invisible yoke I can't escape
Can't get rid of the grip, can't get away
Can't rub away the imprint of his touch
These are the moments I despair
These, the moments that he wins
I saw you in that moment
The real you, the sick part, unmasked.
And I knew,
Knew of your weakness
And of your fear.
Our family dog, cringing as you raised your hand to hit her,
Cowered beneath your height.
And my heart broke then and there
For what I saw in her eyes
For not being able to stop you
For the man I no longer saw in you.
None of us would ever be the same.
Beyond the Skinny Branches 