I'm so tired
it's better to pretend
that your words don't cut me
even as I bleed out before you

I hear you loud and clear; your words
like writhing snakes in my ears
and I still choose to pretend—
pretending is a way of life for me,
an escape, a coping method,
or the only way I can live

I dare you to shout at me
once more or one hundred times more
I stopped listening a long time ago
or I pretend to, as I choke back the tears
I won't cry for you
you don't deserve it

So I keep pretending
it's the only way I can live