One day I decided to not take it anymore.

Now, it didn’t just dawn on me that day.

Some days before, after the cuts and the pleas,

the seed had been planted somewhere

in those days when ribbons bowed

around flowers and smiles curved around hurt.

Those days were the hardest, to be honest,

but not as hard as the days in between,

when the days seemed too long,

and the fleeting nights were a quick whisper.

Before the seed was planted,

I had decided that this was it, my one true path

but then the day came when night was sweeter than day,

when truth bared those ragged teeth and bit into me,

that day I screamed silently and by the time night came,

the seed had been planted.

It was a normal seed, I think, having never seen one planted before.

The day of reckoning was drawing near and I fed and watered my seed,

heaping reasons, weeding doubt and clearing space.

Space to spread my wings. Eventually.

One day, that day,

I decided.

No more.