Total Art Soul - for artists

I know I am not alone in having been in an abusive marriage; sadly I am not alone in having been treated in any of the ways described below. I know I am not alone in writing poignant and distressing recollections; but it just had to be written. This was written a good few years after the demise of my marriage. I chose to leave, perpetuated by a particular incident; I'll probably write about that too at some point. It took me 5 years to gather up the courage to do so. I couldn't believe how someone who 'loved' me? could treat me like this and I make no apologies for the naivety of this piece.

You promised to love me for ever.
You promised your vows to me.
I promised to love you for ever.
I promised my vows to you.
I respected you
You respected nothing
I gave you my body, my love, my honesty 
You gave me distress, upset, heartache, abuse.
I made you unaccountably irritated, annoyed, impatient.
You made me fearful, restrained, introverted, desperate.
I drowned in pity
You drowned in beer.
You took away my self esteem, passion, decisions, self image
I took away our son.
I tried so hard!
You tried to destroy me
I forced a smile
You forced me to do things I did not want
I changed for self preservation
You changed me indelibly
You broke my spirit, possessions, our son's toys  
I broke my heart
You dreamt of god knows what
I dreamt I was killing you, I might be happy one day
I felt lost, unloved, pathetic 
You felt empowered
I reported you to the G.P. but only once
You reported me as mentally unstable to the police
You threw vile things at me
I threw away my life for you
You left me bereft
I LEFT YOU!