my family is never one to show love but is an expert in portraying hate
it is said that a house is the foundation to build a home
but in my family, the space between us spreads miles apart
this house is not well-built enough to hold us together

the night i learned how to eat fast just to get out of the dinner table
was when i realized that my hands are slipping away from the people i know by blood

this pavement would only allow avoiding eye contact
living room silent treatment
fist on walls
swearing after swearing

like pieces of cheap glass, it is falling apart
this house is too scarred to handle anymore of the vengeance we hold
too ruined to see one more person leaving

as i grow old i am becoming its replica
how these cracked walls longed for affection
suffocating on moments that had passed
screaming for renovation

mom.. dad..
i have not been home for years
i wonder when will you be searching for me

like a sin, it haunts me
my father's knotted forehead who hustles day and night
to make up for the bills he traded for long dive on the ocean of no escape
he who had broken the chains is now paying  for a lifetime's worth of slavery
with more mouths to feed
my mother,
what she had become was the aftermath of abuse
shaking hands
the sad ending she had to settle for

and i'd like to believe my brothers were brave
even if every now and then they would have to leave to find themselves
and they got further and further
each door closing one after another

my sister was the only one who taught me to forgive the ones you love
even if they would commit the same mistake again

i have collected the pieces i wish i could put back
mom...
dad...
and the rest of you,
let's build it together.