have you ever met a person
someone who comes
and insidiously, yet unwittingly, takes over your life
just by being who they are

choking your thoughts, and marking you
like a brand, seared into your very being,
bonding you,
and no matter how you struggle
you can not seem to break free

yet, just as mysteriously as that person came,
they leave, and you can breathe again,
heaving a sigh of relief
as you welcome the silence and the solitude,
the

and then you realize,
that bitter ironical truth,
that when all is said and done,
you can never truly be free

because when all is said and done
you still have
the memories
and those are chains
that only time can break.