How I wished to be loved

To be held and adored

Long walks on the beach and late nights spent indoors

But the hungry aren’t picky

I betrayed myself

I chose a love that was sickly

Arsenic water for health

I drank long and drank deep

And I choked with a smile

To undo myself would be well worth the while

But neglect has a cost

And one day I snapped

No longer I’d run to a beckoning lap

The arsenic water

It burns on my skin

It taught me the love that I’d ignored within

My betrayal was beauty

And through all the pain

I learned I deserved to love myself again