Contributor: Birta C. Long

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I feel like I'm drowning.
I know I'm right.
I know I'm right.
I know the pain is how he fights
I know the doubt is how he wins
I know the cruel words
Are the tools
He cuts with.

They aren't true
They were never true
And yet
And yet
Who can say
I wouldn't act the same way
If I were in his shoes?
That I wouldn't wield the same blades
Cut with the same quickness
To flay
My own pain
From another's bones?

Better to trudge on.
Better for both of us
Just to trudge on.


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