they never said it out loud but they
wanted me to grieve quietly,
behind closed
doors, grab the key and lock it!
they could see my demons clinging
to my flesh and peeking through the
darkest parts of my sorrow-ridden eyes;
it terrified them.
so they begged me to              
grieve quietly because they
knew that somewhere inside them
was the hidden truth that
pain, in fact, exists and as hard as we try,
as much as we beg, it cannot and will
not be avoided.