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I Was Not Sick, She Was

A cage not of your making
your own expiration date

Your mother branded you with it
and made you wear it even to date

It was announced at family dinners
with strangers in the room

It was told to every family friend
of my own impending doom

How it made me feel was not considered
not given a meager thought

She just had to get that out there
because it was important and fraught

And then when I grew older and objected
she did it on the sly

Took aside my companions 
and injected them with her sick dye

I was told I should never have children
I was told I should avoid many things in life

She colored my world and put me in box
and invaded my personal space causing strife

Till I ran away across several states
and she came to fetch me back 

And then there was a kind of truce
as she knew I could leave and be free

And I also knew it, so I worked at emancipating me
So she instead worked on my boyfriends filling them full of lies

And I stopped bringing anyone home
and I lived completely outside

And I started a professional life and never again did the two meet
and she was not able to control my life again nor even make a peep

and then I had some peace. 

The kicker? I was not sick, she was, but I was too young to know. 

Artimus 9/23/23 9:25AM (C) Susan Manley

angeranti bullyinganxietybetrayalrhyme

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