the only way to survive that place…
was to kill off the part of me that was real…
close off my heart to forever erase…
empty all the ways I could truly feel…
the only way to make it out alive was to do what I was told to do…
lie to myself and say this was what was right and true…
the only way for him to allow me to live was to become a slave to his demands…
the only way for me to keep breathing was to cater silently to all of his selfish commands…
and now…
the only way to live is to let go of the fears..
the only way to love is to embrace the pain and the tears…
the only way to dream is to find a peaceful place to sleep…
the only way to find happiness is letting go of all you seek to possess and keep…
in dark worlds…of trauma and abuse…
a person merely becomes a toy for someone to carelessly own and use…
but we weren’t made to be this way…
sometimes you have to leave in order to find freedom in the rest of your days…
my father taught me…
to shut down internally….cross my eyes to not see…
that to him…
I was just a butterfly with clipped wings never to be free…
but that was never…
me…
Lauren Kim Art 