Swallowed Scream

I can feel the scream rise in me like liquid fire.
Lodging in my throat, burning my esophagus as it tries to boil it’s way out.
But I swallow it down like bile.
I won’t give you the satisfaction of seeing me break.

Your words peck away at me like vicious birds.
Stealing away pieces of me
Widening the hole in my heart you started long ago.
I catch as many as I can, chew them up and spit them back at you.

Although I far surpass you with my linguistic prowess,
It is I who lay bleeding while you stand with barely a scratch.
The edges of my verbal projectiles blunted,
Eroded by the salty tears that slip between my lips.
While yours hit home with surgical precision,
Wickedly sharp with your cold indifference.
Filleting me.