Poem || Protection.

And when you lied the first time,
you said you were doing it to protect me.
And I believed you
because I thought I needed protection.

And then you bought me a star,
telling me it reminded you of me
And I believed you
because I thought I needed praising

And then you bought me the sky and
told me it was my bulletin board
And promised I could pin down the stars you bought me
because they'd be more of them

And with each star I pinned down,
I felt their light dimmed down
As though I was killing them
Neigh, stabbing them.

And then when I told you I couldn't kill
anymore stars.
You laughed and said I was too soft
and soft women were stupid and gullible

One day, you came in holding a bag
Of stardust, probably from a star that died
And you told me to use it as glitter
On the bulletin board
But I refused

Boy, I never saw you so mad.
You grabbed my hand and
forced me into the sky
And threw my stars away
Causing each one to shine so bright again

And I smiled because now they were free
Then frowned, because I wasn't.

I took my bag of pins and popped the bubble
you trapped me in.
And when you asked me why I was leaving
I looked you straight in the eyes and
I lied to you
But it's okay because
I was only lying to protect you.