You scarred me so deeply
that I lifted my standards,
like a weight I never knew I carried—
realized what was missing,
what you had stolen,
and ran into the arms of a man
who doesn’t wear your face,
who doesn’t breathe your poison.
A man who holds me
like I am not a burden,
who loves me
without expecting to watch me crumble.
10,000 miles away,
across an ocean you will never cross,
where your shadow can\'t reach me.
I chose exile
from the scent of you,
from the echo of your lies.
This is how I made sure
you would never darken my doorstep again—
by allowing myself to be loved
the way I always should have been,
not in the small, shattered way
you insisted I deserved.