I cannot hurt you with words.
Now with the hundreds of miles between us.
Not with the bitter night's air
slicing open my lungs and
closing the corset around my ribs.

I cannot strike you.
My will refuses to pick up the knife
even when it is mounted into my back.
I cannot inflict pain
just to regain balance after these years.

You cannot love me with words.
You have not even tried.
Wrote me off, a lost cause
What is there to lose when
I am the only one who invested.

But you can hurt me with silence.
You yourself carved your name into my wrists.
It was your hands around my neck as I screamed.
It was a slap across my face that summer night
when I asked you to stay.

But if you were to stay, all would be forgiven.