Everything can be reconciled from a place of self-loathing;
if one looks enough at the broken hall of mirrors one becomes
what one fears, and says "I told you so."
Ah, the payoff,
the short-circuit vision into heartlessness, so one doesn't
have to think but one's a fool to show respect because
one isn't treated with the respect that one deserves
as one was taught to treat every other
(with verbal and physical scars to prove it).
And so there's the slow burn of frustrated expectations,
the fire that says "it's mine" in a wind that scatters coals,
expecting others to be other than what they are
(and helping them see just how far they fall short),
it's this game of fair play, once given as a promise
in lieu of another hug, it becomes an addiction
with its thumb to the world, where everything's a gift
and justice is not of this realm.
Humans are the creatures incensed they can't get what they want
and the ones who keep forgetting they are royalty
And then the anger comes, and it burns inside the viscera,
the dull aches of another's pain inside
as he feels the whole thing slip away from his grip,
he should get what he gets without pitching a fit,
he knows this, he knows what he meant
was not close to what was expressed, whatever truth
was there is forgotten in his shame. He feels estranged
and paralyzed once again.
Humans are the beasts who maximize their advantage because they can,
and the ones who surrender with the compassion of the Gods
Meanwhile, on the other end of his wrath,
they wonder how far it can go,
how softly they must walk on the eggshells,
how quickly they can mend what's torn,
they dare not say that conversation is inaccessible,
dare not express the confusion of their pain,
time is too short to utter any words, words that can
cut unexpectedly like glass.
They feel like victims, powerless, mute,
as if it's all their fault, misunderstood,
just like that ogre in the other corner,
the one now crying too softly to hear, for love.
Humans are the animals who kill to prove a principle
but mourn a passing they never stopped to know
