no one is the villain in their own story: a home, the series

This house in the woods up in the north

Far from warmth and the duress of the city

built on the lies we tell to ourselves

every morning when I avoid

your touch, every night when we lie

in separate rooms

I’m married to the fear on your face

The mirror knows intimately the anger in mine

You don’t think the kids see it too, do you?

This roof over their heads

Sealed at the seams

Keeping our secrets and screams tightly disguised

You don’t think they hear it, do you?

Do you think it echoes in their dreams?

Honey, let’s stay together for the kids

They’re older now, they’ll understand

we’ve never learned any way better

what promised to be a simple Monday night

comes screaming to a halt as red and blue

lights fly up the drive, bouncing blithely off

fresh piles of snow

This is normal right?

Honey, let’s stay together for the kids

Love is staying

I mutter, we glower over dinner

their once witless and chubby cheeked faces

now wary, exchanging knowing glances

one by one getting up from the table

only the sound of an eggshell under foot

the timorous clatter of one by one, a dish in the sink

Love is staying

As days pass without speaking

Love is staying for the kids

But honey, now that they’ve gone

I don’t recognize you, we’ve lost

the battles and the war

burned the trees up and the forest

all there is left, is the ruin of the house

in the woods up in the north