gilded cage

in your arms

are security without peace

love without trust

an extraordinary life

in a gilded cage

I could never say yes

still, somehow held on

to the idea that it could change

I could be myself

pressing coffee in the morning

to your sweet smile

rather than watching your regimen

of medications

and moody judgment

I couldn’t hold us both up

forever

I could never say yes

to living in that kind of bondage

tied to your self-pity and power

as I struggled to tread lightly

remain unbruised

unnoticed

your chain of indifference around my wrists, my neck

except when I could turn your disposition

to something that more resembled

the extraordinary life

that held us together

the vision of something better

that we could never attain