The tug of ‘love’
Or rather tug of war
Under the thumb
His temper flares

He sees the red mist
She disobeyed
He clenches his fists
In a white hot rage

She argues back
He tries to silence
But he’ll never admit
He’s prone to violence

‘She winds him up’
Or so he says
‘They’re all mentally ill’
‘He’s the one who’s sane’

She’s out the door
He yells in the street
In fast pursuit
As she tries to flee

But his claws are embedded
Deep in her psyche
Ingrained for decades
And she just can’t fight it

‘He didn’t do it’
‘She made it up’
So on it goes
This tug of ‘love’

He won’t confess
Even to himself
Thus it continues
As he refuses help

Thus like a yo-yo
He yanks her back in
And spins her in his lies
Until she’s bound up in string

There’s no escape
Alas, it seems
A fight to death?
Is that the key?

The cavalry has been
Time and time again
But time and time again
Neither will relent

Embroiled in this saga
For all to see
Until one of them succumbs
To their own mortality.