Burning

I am more than the sum of my parts

The worth you assign to me

I don't have to accept that

Who the hell decided it was yours to assign anyways

I am more than you take me for

I just know when to bite my tongue

Even if it means almost drowning in my blood

I swallow my fire to keep from burning others

Let the ashes fill my lungs

Cough up more smoke than a house fire

The problem is I'm the burning building

Everyone else is running from

I hold my breath to let you escape

Forcing you away

Your axis of expectation is skewed

My hardened exterior isn't to keep you out

It's to hold myself in

I love too deeply and openly

Burying myself again and again

To raise new life from my broken ashes

I'll drain all of me into everyone else

Yet I still don't quite see the problem with that

Because love isn't what hurts is is

It's not having someone else to pour love into