MAKING WAR NOT LOVE

Being beaten up
by the bully
who is none other than
myself.
The punches come,
the bruises linger,
and yet I
relent not.
I writhe
in a pain so true,
not even you,
nor they,
can allieviate it
lest you transcend
upon this confliction
with a love
I have forgotten
to recognize.
Yet even then,
I don't surrender.
Continuing to chain
myself hostage,
I am a prisoner
of and to myself.