Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.

— Mark Twain

The longer you fight
The longer
Lies masquerade as hope
Empty promises sound like plans
Deceit manipulates you

The longer you stay
The more you shrink
Bending truth to explain silence
Mistaking absence for relationship

The longer you wait
The more you erase
Your needs
Your voice
Your worth

The longer you hope
The longer you ignore
What actions have been spelling in bold

The longer you fight
The longer your heart beats pain
The clearer it becomes—
You’re at war, alone

And love—
Love was never meant
To feel like survival

So you stop

Not because you don’t love
But because
You are no longer willing to abandon yourself to prove it

Afterword: Time and emotional energy run out. They are not endless. So where you place them matters. Pouring into what pours back builds something. But, giving all of yourself to what won’t choose you only leaves you empty.

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In creative solidarity, Dee