Love with a No

I know you genuinely care
and you're not trying to manipulate or control.
I know you're a good person
but your feelings have consequences to me
beyond what you intend.

Your company brings weight
that is not mine to carry.
Your closeness is restless.
Your love is mixed with anxiety
and your care is tainted with fear.

Your help limits my choices.
I don't need assistance with my feelings
and I'm not responsible for yours.

Your worries about me,
don't make my burdens lighter.
Let me manage my life
and not your hopes.

Your attempts to rescue just make me feel like
you don't consider me as capable as you.
Your lack of trust in my capacity
is not for me to own.

You don't have to like my choices
to respect them.
Your disappointment is not evidence
of my mistakes.

My boundaries are not rejection.
If my autonomy is threatening to you
that's you not me who needs to change.

Why do you call it sacrifice
if you're now asking me to pay?
You don't have to prove your love
with suffering you know.

Who taught you that relationships
require mutual self-abandonment?
I don't agree to this transaction.
My care is freely given not for sale.