Unsent Valentine

The coddling continued
far past healthy,
and now an adult child,
you leave empty plates and promises
in every room
and discard your clothes
along with your dignity nightly.
They are strewn about
close enough to the laundry basket
to be maddening in it's purposefulness.

Justify the daily drunk
by working too hard at what means nothing.
But no one deserves
what you do to you.

Fueled by fear,
gratuitous self-deprication,
inevitable annhialation
at everyone else's expense.

You will have been alone
long before you realize
that you're lonely.