Long past the point in time to be the bigger man
so far over worrying about how someone else might feel
done with the dismissal and devaluation
not backing down this time just to clear the air
no longer taking any responsibility
for how someone else might feel or act or be
stepping out from under decades
of being treated like I’m just the child
ignorant and barely wanted
always lying, always wrong
I’m done with backing down,
seen but not heard I believe they say
well sorry but I won’t apologize for speaking up
when I’ve been trapped for most my life
under the weight of the lack of self-esteem
crushed by all the mocking and the threats and bluster
and no you can’t just walk right in and make me take it back to fix it
when it’s been broken for almost forever
and now suddenly someone else is cut
by the jagged edges they themselves created