suffocate.

merciless, wrath-wrapped hands
squeeze my malleable heart
inside
your unconscious manipulation
has caused irreparable damage.

over time
it has become the air i breathe
and in that sense i know no other
way of living, of sustaining;
it appears to be the only possibility.

breath after shallow breath
that has lead not to freedom, but rather
to a compulsive repetition
of my childhood constellation.

your hand around my throat,
rage-induced choking
you suffocate my hope
take away air all together
leaving me to come to
in this skewed and blurry reality.