We are not a close family.
We do not share positive relationships.
Our parents tried, but then they stopped.
Outwardly we were making the attempt;
We shared meals,
Took trips,
Posed for Christmas cards.

There was no trust.

There was no confidence.

There was obligatory love.

(The love that compels you to remind your suicidal daughter that her death would make you die in pain from sorrow. Despite your situation, and lack of attempts to resolve it. You think about solutions, but you never act on them. And I have been in trouble of becoming you.)

There was established peace.

(If you count each person retreating to their respective rooms until reconvening for dinner then inevitably dispersing once more, this time to go cry and lick their wounds from the encounter.)

There was a democracy.

(Assuming that a democracy consists of two dictators and multiple, consistently irritated rabble rousers.)


And there was free speech.

(That was regulated for all offspring; excluding, of course, the youngest. He had to be heard somehow. )