It’s as if you exist
to check the reality
of my newly curated independence and self worth.
No longer will I be
the household doormat
the invisible wife
the self-less mother
the one who is everything for everyone
else.
I breathed in the possibility of limitless autonomy
for a matter of moments
and you met it head-on
full stop.
I didn’t see you coming;
almost collapsed under the weight
of maddening intrigue
and decades-old patterns.
I’m fourteen again
mesmerized by the charismatic frontman
caught in the lyrics of a song written by him 
not for me.