- From a woman who woke up
I have loved a shadow in a man's body.
I have nourished it with soul.
I have covered it with patience.
I have built a house on the sand and called it "family."
You were never there.
It was just your body wandering around.
You just disappeared.
You watched while I drowned in responsibility
and you thought that doing nothing was enough.
I was a mother to our children,
but also to your ego.
I nurtured them all - the children with love,
you with silence and survival.
For years, I've shrunk to make you bigger.
I've bitten my tongue until I bled over the stories
I never told,
stories of illnesses I didn't deserve,
of bills I paid with hope and heartbreak,
of promises you never kept,
Even when I left…
with dignity,
with care,
with a lawyer and a bruised but still beating heart,
you still haunted me.
You wrote me hate at dawn
like a ghost howling at the door that once closed itself from the inside.
You think you're powerful when you're evil.
But evil is just weakness
dressed up in noise.
You think silence is weakness, too.
But silence is the kingdom I built
when I realized your chaos deserved no listener.
I have given you more than I deserved:
a house you never wanted,
children who still look at you with love because I spoke to them with love about you,
and a woman you once knew,
who could have destroyed you with the truth,
but chose to walk away
with her soul intact.
You didn't lose me.
You wasted me.
And the saddest part?
You still believe in the fairy tale
where you are the wounded hero
and I am the "bad guy."
But here's the truth:
I am no longer yours.
Not to be mentioned.
Not to be provoked.
Not to be broken.
I was never yours, actually.
I just stuck around long enough
for you to believe the lie.
Now I am free.
And you are left screaming,
But I no longer hear you.
I am silent.
And silence is the voice of my victory.
- Written for Anabel by an anonymous woman, for the “Untold Stories” column – the haven where we recount those moments when the heart wants to speak, whether about the good or the difficult, about the deepest feelings that we don't want to keep inside. If you too would like to share your story, write to us at [email protected].
