Turn away from my humanity

Through glassy eyes filled with salty tears
you can make no mistake of my humanity
If you doubted, now you are sure
i am fragile.

Rigid and forced, the tightened rope weakens
the strained glass cracks
the cold eyes water
i am flawed.

All that was pretense now stripped bare
and only the raw, ugly, frightful truth remains
A sight so concentrated
You cannot but turn away
to the complete awareness that,
Just like you,
Like her, and as they all do...
i hurt.

Family Values

Today at tea with my family, I looked around the table and saw God. We laughed and shared stories around a restaurant table as though it were our home because, as I later realised, they are my home. Many years ago my life began with ruin, the ruin of my family's foundation. A key piece of the puzzle lost to us forever. Now, though the space of my father's death still lingers, loss is replaced by a bond of acceptance, love and gratitude to have each other to laugh at, around a restaurant table.