Through this materialistic house
You call it a home
You pretend it is welcoming
Cozy, warm,
Only words coming from your ego,
Certainly not feelings absorbed by visitors
You usher us in,
Greeting each one with a kiss
As Judas did so long ago.
You think you’ve gotten away with it
You’re sure no one has caught on to your act
You are confident in your manipulation;
That is strangely satisfying to you
And shows as a sparkle in your eye.
Once we’re all inside,
The door to the world is slammed quickly
And locked.
The Venus fly trap has closed
And will now begin digestion.
Small talk & witty banter echo
Through the house so full of space,
So full
Of distance.
Now the battle has begun;
You feel you have the upper hand,
You feel we have not sensed your insincerity,
Your selfish motives lurking beneath
A carefully pruned & pampered exterior.
Daily topics turn to personal ones,
Trivial to life changing,
Secrets to lies.
Sarcasm leaves a smudge on the beautiful repore
You’d been hoping to uphold.
Then insults, subtle ones
Begin to peel back the mask you’ve painted on.
Finally, sheer disgust becomes apparent,
Becomes overwhelmingly clear
To your guests, your friends, your loved ones,
Your family.
They sit sorrowful & solemn
As you smirk slyly,
Boasting to yourself
That you’ve done it,
You’ve made them feel your pain,
Made them responsible for your flaws.
Deeply contented,
You loosen the grip of your talons
And release your prey
To crawl away pitifully
To the holes they live so indignantly in.
And we do,
We oblige,
We crawl
Out the door that had locked us in,
Trapped us for you to play your game
Of cat and mouse,
Of master and slave.
And as the door swings closed behind us
Sealing you into your cold dwelling
And casting us
Into the outside world,
We
Rejoice.
We rejoice
For we have made it through,
Humoring you and your illusion of power
And escaping any severe damage,
Having only had to ignore petty remarks
And childish stabs at our lives and choices.
We rejoice
For we have not lowered ourselves to your level
By expressing to you
How inhuman and bitter we feel your antics have become
We have not
Cut you down, scarred you
The way you have done for us so many times.
No, we did not reject you
We triumphed over you
By playing naive to your scheming plots,
Scornful looks, and cruel judgments.
Thank you
For reminding us
How lucky we are
To still have our morals and principals intact,
That we still do
Treat family like family,
Even when their words to us
Ring hollow.
Age 20