I am not a puppet or toy
whose strings and buttons you can pull and push at will
for I bleed when I am cut and I cry when I am in pain
you are now the monster hiding under the bed
the you, that I thought I knew now lost in the shadows
your touch no longer electric no sparks, no love, no light
my boundaries now fortified these lines you cannot cross
and even in my darkest night
I will no longer ache for your power surges
as I am happy to exist without those brief flashes of light
that only illuminated the absence of love for anyone but yourself
you are insubstantial
already fading from my sight
© Ann Bagnall
Annie's Poetry 