Square One

   
Reopening wounds in the gunfire of excusable provocation  
My words brim with venom when the heart is bleeding  
But hurt never got me off for murder at the mouth  
When notorious legends wear their filthy rags so boastfully  
Weighing hopes on the idea of all that you did right  
To sate the accusations of all the allegations that swell beneath the surface  
   
We are the redeemed until we need an excuse to justify bad behavior  
When there’s no such thing as heroes just lesser villains in need of an out of world Savior  
   
Blood shed is still the knife in the back even if the razor doesn’t cut quite so deep  
Just hit the snooze on being woken up to the reality of your demons when it’s easier just to go back to sleep  
   
Are there fathers or just pretenses doing just enough to get by  
When one man’s guilty bystander is another man with his own story for his alibi  
   
Thank you for your service when it weighs heavier then the compromise of a mutual sense of infidelity  
You’ve got a good enough story to be let off the hook because you shoulder more responsibility  
   
I am you but I strive to make a change while you remain the same  
You're set in your ways and you’ve earned the right to do so  
 
I just get swift kicks because I’m too young to know any better  
And I can’t cry on your cold shoulder because you're a better father than I am a son  
I hope you're proud, you helped me write another sad Happy Father’s Day letter  
When progress is an illusion and these irritated scars bring us back to square one  
   
Helping me write poems that serenade heartache for assignments undone on this inverted throne  
When homework goes beyond grade school but I have to learn how to do these things on my own…