Not Strangers

We are not strangers, you and I.

My child may not have died

But I have lost one to a terrible man

With an affinity for the courtroom.

I may not be addicted to that particular drug

But I know what it is like to have the devil sitting right there

Taunting you to do something

You know you shouldn’t

But want to

A little.

I may have never been hit by a man

But I’ve been in love with one

That called me every name he could think of

And when that didn’t break me

Found someone else

Then rubbed that in my face for days.

I can relate to the feeling of wanting to die

Of wanting everyone to just shut up and leave me alone

The pressure of needing to be perfect

When I know damn well

There is no way that is going to happen.

Of getting all my ducks in a row

Thinking I have it all together

Then making a bad decision

That makes it all blow up in my face.

In a strange paradox

I both did not believe in

And hated God

For taking a friend away from me

Decades before I expected it.

We are not strangers, you and I

Our lives are just as entangled with demons

Our pasts are just as much bullshit

Our minds, just as fragmented.

Our hearts, just as broken.

Both of us will wake up tomorrow

Thinking something will happen this day

That makes up for the past 16,790 of them.