The Crab

She won’t be able to sustain
another heartbreak.
She grows restless and impatient,
energy escaping under pressure,
like the whistle of a cooker.

She knows this agitation
is followed by a deep silence she is afraid of.
That silence stands for strength,
for independence,
but she is tired of being independent.

That silence means there is nowhere
safe enough to break down.

She has been in that darkness before,
and she does not want to return to it.

She feels like a crab;
holding on with tight claws.
She does not know when to let go.
All her life, she has had to let go too often.
She does not want to let go this time.

She cries, cries, and cries,
and only silence remains.