The Jailers

Baby, I know we're each in our own little separate jails. And every now and then, someone here will say something like… “why don't you just leave?”

They don't understand.

But, baby. I do. I know. I understand.

Our jailers, they are clever. They know just how and when to tighten the cages.

A little tweak to living conditions here.
You don't know her like I know her, but trust me…
There is no altruism involved in the latest addition to my household.

A little thinly-veiled threat there.
Against who? Us? Themselves?
Does it matter?
It's out there in the world now.

And that cooling-off period.
Designed specifically to aid them.
To keep us locked up.
Giving them that much more opportunity to work out which lever to pull.

This time.

Yeah.

Baby, I know.

But, babe… you know what else I know?

I know you and I? We're more clever than them. Each one of us is more clever on our own than both of them combined. And we're patient. And we're strong. And stubborn as all fuck, when the situation demands it.

So, try as they might, those cages can't hold us forever. Oh, it'll suck sometimes. It'll hurt. It'll feel impossible. We might find ourselves leaning into the defeat for a moment…

But then we'll pick ourselves back up. Dust ourselves off. And start working on picking that lock again.

Because these wings cannot, will not be clipped.

And this love is too damned powerful to end just because we grew beyond our previous life choices. They had their chances to keep up. Hell, they've had ample chances to catch up. Not our fault they both chose to stay right where the were while we grew and blossomed.

And baby… not every fight needs to be big. Sometimes, it's the little things that slowly erode that lock away. Tiny little acts of rebellion that fly right under their noses. Spitting on the iron bars each day so slowly, gradually, eventually they rust away…

Today, for me, it's a mug. Reclaimed after twenty years. Is it gonna break that lock? No, of course not. But it'll take a chip out of it. And maybe, more importantly… I know. I know what it means to be sipping my coffee out of this mug today, even if she doesn't even remember. And so I grow stronger, and the iron bars grow weaker.

It's not much. But it doesn't always have to be.

We'll get there, baby. We will.

They might delay us for a bit, but baby… there ain't no stoppin' us.

We got this.

And, just in case you need to hear it… I got you. Always. Forever. No matter how long, no matter what happens.

I got you.

Love you.
Me.