Dragon Breath

Dragon Breath.
You breathe near me and I feel burnt.
Its in the way you inhale in my face.
Even your breath tastes like chewed up words, spit in my face.

A platter of food separates us,
but we are really worlds apart.
I sit still and swallow all my words.
They taste like hate and go down roughly.

I finish a bottle of water and still, I feel like it can come back up.
The water.
The words.
The way I swallowed the things I should have said.

"You can be our spy." You said.
Am I really not enough for you?

Your babysitter. Your garbage.
Your bag to punch and fill with anything.

Your nothing.

I carry my silence like a badge.
I am proud of all the things I never said.

They fill me with anger.
But, I am able to lift my head, look in your eyes-
and know I did not fill you with anything but my silence.

But then,
when I least expect it-
my own husband looks at me,
and finds me wrong.

And I cry.
Because I have done everything for you and nothing to you.
And all the ways I have sacrificed,
seem like nothing.

But, my dear-
If I stand up and speak.... I slay the dragon.

Are you ready for that?