Resentful Hearts

I can still remember it like it was yesterday,
They sat on the couch across from him,
I can remember her saying “we’re doing ok”
“And we don’t need you” my cousin told his father.

I remember I stood in the kitchen,
Angry and sad at the same time,
Although my cousin and I weren’t as close growing up,
I was very attached my uncle.

Those words embedded themselves in my memory,
Divorce can play a harsh tune in resentful hearts,
I know my uncle was a good man,
After all, he was there for me more than my own father.

Then as a grown-up I had the same struggles,
I feared hearing those same words,
Then I sympathized with my uncle’s memory,
At how those expressions must have felt.

It’s been over thirty years since that day,
A father lost his son in the heat of a bitter divorce,
I miss a cousin who never gave us a chance,
Because adults sometimes aren’t civil.

The one time I eavesdropped on a conversation,
Was the worst exchange I could have heard,
The time has passed yet the recollection
Seems faded but still hurts.