the tree is still beautiful without its leaves

I watch her grow
and then tear off her limbs
for a man that doesn't
love her right

Self realisation
isn't always freeing
when you're held under
and told to suck it up
because deep down
he's a good man
provides his family
drinks too much
spends all his free time
in video games
and doesn't understand sex
is a two sided affair

And maybe she'd have left him
if they didn't have a kid
but there's stability in his job
and it's nice not living in poverty
though the psychological price
is high when she loves someone
who puts her down one moment
and pulls her up the next
and she fears how hard
life will be without him

And she's never cheated
but he controls her like
he feels the need to keep
her sex drive on a leash
and talking to another man
is temptation in the making

She's got an invisible disability
spends every day in pain
looks after their only child
studies and works
and still he comes home
and complains about dishes
in the sink
like everything she does
is smaller and more worthless
than his nine to five
that he rewards himself for
by getting drunk and being an asshole
instead of the loving partner she needs

And I as much as I don't want to
I understand why she doesn't leave him
though she deserves more out of this life
than being with a man
that can't love her right

© Indie Adams 2022