You Say... — Summary

You say we don't text enough. You say we don't FaceTime enough. You say you don't see my face enough. You say that you love me. You say that you miss me. You say that you want to see me. But how can I believe you when You leave me on "read." You always say "no" when I ask to talk. You see me almost everyday. You later tell me to slow down on the "I love you's." You're busy all the time. And you never once came out to see me.

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Priscilla's poem is about a relationship where the words of love and the behavior of the other person don't line up. The first half is a list of things "you" says: that they miss the speaker, love the speaker, want to see the speaker. The repeated "You say" feels almost like a record being played back, as if the speaker has heard all of it before.

Then the poem turns on "But how can I believe you when." What follows is the evidence against those words: being left on "read," being turned down when asking to talk, being told to slow down on saying "I love you," and never being visited. The last line lands hardest, because it suggests the speaker has been the one reaching out.

The mood is hurt, tired, and a little frustrated. The speaker isn't shouting, just laying out the facts plainly and asking a fair question: what counts more, what someone says or what they do?

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