Dichotomy

And Every Part of you wants to drag something sharp across soft skin To Blunt the storm Stop the pain Experience tells you it will make it stop And you will Never Have to feel this way again But you Remember the look on your Father’s Face And The Knife In Your Heart As your Mother said that You only did it for Attention So you don’t Her words hurt more than any scar ever could And So you try to move You can’t It's only Your Hands around your knees That keep you from rocking your head Into the wooden cabinet corner And that terrifies you. In one universe You move It’s three inches too far WHAT WOULD YOUR MOTHER SAY? In another You move. Stumble into your parents bedroom Your sobs wake them from Their sleep You tell them it was a nightmare A Truth. A Lie. You crawl into bed between them You Sleep. but in THIS universe You don’t. You stay Hunched on the carpet Quiet sobs Behind your hand Between clenched teeth A Dichotomy: Curled up so tight You wish you’d disappear And no one would ever find you Yet Waiting for the lights to turn on And hurried footsteps Coming your way But it’s only the dog Who comes to investigate the strange animal noises Made by the small, shaking creature on the ground. And even he Leaves Eventually.