i kept you in bars
like i kept myself
and wrote poetry on my ribcage for you to read
and i cried when you left
or when you taunted me
but i swear to you, it was not love.
love isn't imprisoning someone;
love is freeing above all else

but
i never told you that
each night when i caught you trying to kiss another through the bars of my bones..

i tried to unhinge you,
unshackle you from my hopes and dreams.
i was letting you go
i was letting you free
i was never a monster, at least not like you.
but you tore away
left without compensation
and now broken bones and bruises are all i have to make up for the goodbyes you never said and the i love you's you never meant.