I Only Wanted to Keep

I have never grown weary of loving you, loving you still.
I swallowed your neglect but never decided to leave.
To have you, I didn't hesitate to shed pieces of myself.
Even humiliated by love, I never let it stain my skin.
True, I couldn't bring you peace—but slowly I stopped creating reasons for your unrest.
I stepped back, but never stopped loving.
I stayed silent or I screamed, but never broke what we had.
Failing again and again, I hid myself from your sight,
I burned every day, I burn still without end.
I became voiceless,
stared unblinking at your cruelty,
countless times I was scorched by your silence, waiting for replies that never came,
waiting for your messages until that waiting became my very waiting itself.
I broke daily, couldn't show you the ache inside, couldn't tell anyone anything.
A million times your emptiness devoured what was left of me.
I knew my eyes would never dry,
so much I never received from you, yet I never surrendered.
I only wanted to keep... whatever was there, however it was.