They told me to take caution.
Boys like you make a mess out of girls like me.
Splatter me across the wall like a bucket of paint when you're upset.
I'll submit.

I have been wrapping myself tighter around your finger
With each passing week of your silence.
Maybe one day I will sever it
And you will feel me then.

Run, they told me. Run.
I could never bring myself to do it fully.
My shoes were wrong, I ran out of breath;
I ended up tired and sore.

I told myself that I was done.
But then you came back,
With your tears and your grasping hands,
And I crumbled beside you.

I cannot bear to see your suffering,
And you know this to be true.
We both know that you pretend
Not to see mine.