Venomous Voice

What do you call someone
who only gives
so they can call themselves a giver:

Who charms and performs
love, care and service
just so you drop your defenses,

Who stomps
on your fragile shoots of aliveness
and shames your every innocent desire,

Who threatens your safety,
undermines your identity,
mocks your creativity,
exploits your vulnerability,

Who blames you and
holds you forever guilty,
never forgives,

Attacks the character
of everyone
you call a friend,

Who criticizes every effort
you make,
so you can never
have satisfaction,

Who replaces your truth
with their lies
so they never have
to admit being wrong
and take accountability,

Who brainwashes you,
Controls you,
Uses you,
Nullifies you,
Treats you as fuel,

Who makes you smaller and smaller
until you disappear,
then tells you
it’s all your fault
and they are the victim?

What do you call it
when their voice
takes over your own
and you talk to yourself
the way they did?

What if that voice
was the first one
you ever heard?

What if that’s the voice
you were trained
to respond to
over any other?

What if you see it
for what it really is?
What if you stop
hearing it altogether?