Dilution

After someone has cornered you, dominated you,  
broken you down,  
stripped you back until all that you are is their needs,  
their wants, pain and rejection the closest taste of love,  
after you grow a backbone enough to see the degrading dynamic for what it is,  
they'll try bullying,  
they'll try negotiating,  
pacifying, lashing out,  
gaslighting,  
they'll try pretending they never understood,  
or you never made it clear,  
you never seemed in pain,  
they'll try tears,  
to call you home,  
only to reject you again,  
they'll try to hurt you,  
seek some evidence they are still  
all the way under your skin.  
They'll retain parts of you,
without your consent
to keep you theirs.
It's the power they crave,
the ownership.
And after someone else is kind to you,  
someone new,  
willing to do and see and be  
what they could have had if they'd loved  
you as more than possession,  
more than malleable,  
more than something to wound and ignore -
they'll fight to keep the cycle going,
the one that benefited them
regardless of your damage.
See, the cold truth is they never wanted you strong,  
they wanted themselves satisfied,  
wanted you docile, small,  
and now,  
after the power has exchanged hands,  
they don't want anyone else to see your worth either.