Tempered Healing

Parents can pimp you, 

asking you to buy back the house, 

never mind if it was the same place where a kin destroyed your childhood;

Siblings can be the greediest, 

pouncing on property after property, 

once your parents breathe their last;

Friends can betray you, 

at once comforting you in your loneliness, 

but later sneaking under the sheets with your lover;

Women can be your worst enemy, 

inflicting pain and bruises 

that are uglier that the purplish black marks on your skin.

When destiny amounts to obligation and guilt, 

When love assumes a cost that is coveted, 

When kindness disintegrates into hate,
When solidarity becomes suspicious ---

You can only turn to yourself:

Hastening history with every hobby,

Seizing a small space in the company of books,

Chasing the sunsets and waves ---

Until the sinews and wings are healed,

And still be the child of the trees and the stars.

Written on 27 June 2015, photo by Judy Morente