Like a turkey giving thanks
For its place at the table,
You seemed to take as destiny
Your rung on the ladder.

The car crash from which
I could not look away;
The ending I knew but
Still had to read. The you
I imagined was not the you
That lived and breathed.

The princess can only rescue
Herself, I belatedly learned:
Someone else’s idea of freedom
Is merely a different cage.

Perhaps if I find you again
I will find that I was
Wrong, or worse, that I was
Right. His love read like
Hatred, but that could have
Been in the eye of the beholder.

The only way to respect you
Was to leave you be, so I tore
Myself away, gave you room
To find your own way out.

I hope you respect yourself
Enough to trust your own
Eyes, your own heart,
Your own value, your own
Humanity, no matter what
Anyone tells you to be.

11/16/2020

Posted on 11/20/2020
Copyright © 2024 Richard Vince