Stolen Praise

When you whispered

Candy sweet compliments to me

In the dead of night,

I did not

Could not know

That you spoke with stolen praise.

The phrase

You whispered was borrowed from another,

You never believed it or lived it

But I did

And you led me down the path that shouldn’t be followed

So here I am,

A remnant of your

Stolen praise.

You picked me up off cold ground,

Only to throw me down a cliff

I still haven’t hit the ground yet,

I’m still falling.

Getting deeper and deeper with the rusty razor

The blood is the waterfall called gravity pulling me down.

If only I knew how to fly,

Then I could be a vulture and eat you alive.

Give you a taste of the hell on earth you put me through

The razor blade the cuts my wrists

Is made of the words you spoke

The stolen praise

That was never meant for me

The blood it takes out

Some of the demons in me

Left by your words

Of stolen praise.

The lines crisscross like stitches,

Drawn in sharpie,

Each stick is a tally

Of the false words you said to me,

The stolen praise.

The last gift you’ve given me

The curse of heavy weights dragging me down

Each one represents a time I “failed you”

When really it was your failures.

I am weighed down by your failures that you

Chained to me

With your words of stolen praise

The next time you fail, I won’t take your weight. I’ll let responsibility crush you

I’ll watch you suffer in a tiny morsel of the

Delicious pain you put me through.

And then

I’ll be the one giving out stolen praises,

Stolen from you,

And you’ll be the one twisting and writhing like a worm on a hook.