I swallowed every sharp reply

Kept my hands and my voice tied

Watched you laugh like nothing cracked

While I curled up and broke my back

You call it love, I call it rot

You looked right through me, then forgot

I was built from wire and skin

And holding in what should’ve been

Did hurting me make you feel right?

Did you smile when I lost the fight?

Did you hate me when I cried,

Or was I just noise you pushed aside?

I flinch at words you didn’t mean

But they still echo when I dream

I wrote you poems in my head

You tore out pages, left me red

You say I’m cruel for pulling back

Like all the hurt was just a scratch

But I was drowning in the drought

And now the flood is coming out

Did hurting me make you feel right?

Did you smile when I lost the fight?

Did you hate me when I cried,

Or was I just noise you pushed aside?

I sealed my mouth with crooked thread

And stitched a smile while I bled

But silence only rots in place

So now I scream without disgrace

Hurting me doesn’t make you right.

You can smile, but I’m done with the fight.

You’re rotting from the hate inside,

And I’m not noise to be pushed aside.