You thought you could wound me with words but they rolled off my back like water on ducks
You sank your teeth into my skin and thought I would tattoo the indentations but bruises fade and so did you
You left a lump in my throat when I choked on your bile, but I've learned to swallow what you gave me like a good little girl
You thought I would miss you when you were gone but the skies have never been clearer
Breathing has never been so easy

The cold of the winter reminds me of your Arctic touch, your tundra heart.
It reminds me of nights spent on floors, with you or because of you, I was never sure.
Because even when you were by my side, you were somewhere else, always talking about someone else.
Left me always wishing I was someone else.
And ever since, I can't find a home in this skin.
I let your poison sink in and it weighs me down like anchors.

i want to tell you that I never think of you
and that my love for you has faded with the years,
but my head and my heart travel more than I do lately
and they're always going home to you.

it's that time of year, where the fall
of the leaves reminds me of how
easily i slipped into your habits
and found a home in the space
between your fingers.

i never felt safe with you but
hindsight has a way of making
me forget about that.

i just remember the comfort
i felt when you'd say my name
or sing all of your songs to me,
not the choking phone calls i'd
receive in the dead of night.

stability tastes sweeter than
your skin but time has a
tendency to make you
crave what you've gone without.

There's been an ache
in my hands since
I left you, because
you always knew
the spots to touch
but not hold.

the whole county goes quiet on those nights that you are away,
and i can’t say much for it myself but
i know that every minute you spend away from my side
feels like an eternity stretched and
endlessly dragging on.

and as we skim the rights and wrongs on the edges of the city,
we find ourselves stepping in puddles
of blues and greens, almost like the whole world is
just beneath our feet and we are
somewhere at the top.

When I met you,
your kisses were as sweet as the
summer honey dripping
from the trees and flowers.

You were sticky with sweat,
working too hard to make the moves
you thought would
coerce me into your bed.

When I finally gave it to you,
your autumn hands grew hungry.
I don't know if the leaves falling
made you think you were running out of time
but your fingers became quick and greedy.

You peeled away my petals one by one,
and as you plucked me to my core
I heard you mutter under your breath,
"I love you, I love you not"

You picked me clean,
stripped the flesh from my bones
and left me to freeze in winter air.

When I finally threatened to leave,
you came back swinging,
I mean screaming,
words hurling through the space between us
but I think this time the distance was
finally enough to keep me safe.

When you started giving up,
you left me with nothing but a cheap bunch of flowers,
bought with whatever change was in your pocket.
But it was springtime and
I didn't need your flowers anymore.