i cannot feel your pain
the walls in this house are too thick
my ears only register your shrieks

i still don't know what they mean

mom is stagnant and docile
your punching bag
dad is watching jeopardy downstairs
he adjusts the volume
to the flares of your voice

the arguing still lingers in my apathy
i don't sleep let i miss a sound
and when the commercials break
i'll listen to the crickets through my window
but it's just background noise

i don't know what they're saying

the doors in this house are close
still i refuse to enter a world
where you're drowning in your own tears
hoping someone will come to save you
rather than learning to swim

how sad
to be locked inside that room
i press my body against the doorframe
and listen again

but i only feel your silence