Your words are filled with anger
Resentment lingers like secondhand smoke
on your grandfather’s favorite wingback
I knew you were bitter the second you spoke

Her words are filled with sadness
Sorrow consumes her like death
as she witnessed her mother fade away
I knew she was depleted by the sound of her breath

The battle began when tensions were high
Blinded by judgement you lost your sight
entangled in the web of misunderstandings
I knew your agenda and your need to be right

They sweep their truth up under the rug
conceal closets full of skeletons with doors that won’t close
Buried in the trenches of guilt and shame
where approval is smothered and bitterness grows

Both crying to be heard with mouths full of fear
spewing venom of spite laced with years of pain
Two prisoners of the past
a place neither one could sustain

Their connection is deep but riddled with scars
unhealed wounds have festered, tainting their hearts
Like unraveling wool on their favorite sweater
each longing to mend it without knowing where to start