Don’t Tell Me You Love Me
It’s cruel
I used to long for those words
They would quench my unending thirst
To be seen, to be whole, to be enough
Those words helped me put you first
Hearing them felt like a cold iced tea
In the middle of a hot summer sun
Taking them in enveloped my heart
And centered my equilibrium
But those tender words would only come
After cruel ones caused tears to flow
So broken by the onslaught
I’d give anything to make them go
Then when you said “I love you”
It brought me up from the ground
It will be better now, I told myself
This time will be the turnaround
But it never happened
Throughout all the years
Your harshness was relentless
As were the tears
I had to smack sense into my head
Learn that love is an action
The words didn’t ring true
They were merely a planned distraction
So don’t tell me you love me
It’s the worst thing you could do
Because though I’ll doubt it
I’ll always want to believe it’s true
