Ends With Me

Broken plate on the counter

Same old shouting in the hall

Every door slam

Every silence

Taught me how to make myself small

But I’ve been tracing every bruise in my memory

Every “you’re nothing” turning into “I’m free”

I see the pattern

How it’s passing down like cheap jewelry

I’m taking it off

It ends with me

All of this anger

All of this fear stops here

You won’t live through my heartbeat

I cut the cord

I crush the curse this year

I won’t play the part you wrote for me

I’m the break in the family tree

This story doesn’t own my blood

It ends with me

Photos turned to the wall now

Little hands watching every move

I hear echoes in my own voice

Words I swore I’d never use

So I’m rewriting every rule that you gave me

Every raised voice turning soft when they need me

I see the shadow trying hard to invade me

I’m turning on the light

I am not your temper

I am not your shame

I am not the weapon

You hid inside my name

Breathe in

Count to ten

Hands open

Start again

I am not your story

I’m the sharp clean seam

Where the hurt stops spreading

Right through me