Parachute ~ Monday, December 22, 2025

Do not talk, do not trust, and do not feel

Do you know how alcohol and sheer rage
orders a twelve-year old boy to obey

not that this boy listened to the brown bear
ordering him not to exit his cage
that childhood was full of consequences

that to talk back or not mind what they say
admits accountability to wear
life lived in dread of home, ran away twice
killed time, no soul, no self, all expenses

decidedly paid under a crawlspace
observe spiders and sleep on dirt, cardboard

no vacation, no fun, let it out, ace
observe tears fall, what joy, pull the ripcord
tormented for the rest of time, the price

tortured children pay for just being born
rust to lick, glass to eat, and rocks to kick
until he understood he faced a task
sisyphean in nature, how they scorn
the need to live beyond the pain of birth

answers never ready-to-hand, a trick
nothing more, nothing less, wearing a mask
disguised, father, mother, brother, no love

distance never far enough, lack of worth
or a sense of value, embrace the pain

necessary to feel this life is real
observe infinite space, no one is sane
treasure incongruity, no appeal

forge pointless bonds with friends, hand in glove
empty of meaning but language, a clew
engineer a murder, monsters he slew
life full of sorrow, downcast, turn the page