In love with my skin
I shine from within
The truest wealth
Is loving thyself

You take
everything,
everything that was mine,
everything that you pretended was yours,
everything except responsibility for yourself.

I'm jealous of your pen.
Jealous of the way your hands will never caress my skin like you hold it.
Jealous of the way you won't ever twirl me on a wooden dance floor like you spin it.

I'm jealous of your tie.
Jealous of the way it wraps around your neck, a place my arms will never be.
Jealous of how nothing separates it from your skin except a shirt, but I have red tape cuffing my hands behind my back when I want nothing more than to let them roam beneath the collar of your blue-striped button down.

I'm jealous of your ears.
Jealous of the words they get to hear when mine aren't around to listen.
Jealous of the way they get to hear i love you spill over and over again from your pillowy lips, the same lips that form into a smirk after you tell a joke and make me feel like the most important person in the world.

I'm jealous of the way you make me feel.
Jealous, because, I'll never make you feel that way, too.

It's not enough to merely tell me
I need your words to compel me
Each breath to leave me hanging on
To the cliff my heart rests upon
Ready to jump as soon as you fumble
Be cautious in your words that mumble
Along the edge of my mistrust
For I will leave if I must
At the first mention of a cage
Your chapter will end and I'll start a new page
For I'm a bird flying free
Gaze up at the sky and see
Me soaring up above
Without the confines of your love
Despite the devotion you professed
I will not be possessed
For the sake of your insecurities
Fear expressed through jealousies
Your use of lusting attraction
Only serves as a distraction
From yourself you seek to hide
Ignoring pain you feel inside
So take a look into the mirror
Until you see a little clearer
Don't ask me for my hand
Until you begin to understand
And perhaps you learn the lesson
Love is about appreciation
Not possession.