Suffrage

Her heart constricted,
The words and stinging questions stirring inside her like tiny razor blades
The wounds internal,
No one saw that she was withering from the inside out
As she slowly decayed,
she gave up the things that meant so much to her,
once upon a time
The love that she poured, the gentleness she believed those around her deserved,
They were the last remnants of her soul,
For she would give her last breath to anyone,
To safeguard them from the heartache and pain she had suffered in silence over the years