I don't know what hurts more,
the fact I never witnessed my father cry,
because healing was alien and it was easier to repeat and stay the same,
or the fact my own children have to witness,
the tears that fall down their own father's cheeks,
as the weight of change slowly eats at him from the inside,
at the same time being eaten alive from the outside,
as he alienates himself from the rest around him who promised they weren't like the rest,
to enter into a space their worst nightmares wouldn't dream of.
The darkness this father was born in,
is unlike any his ancestors have ever encountered,
and the light I'll produce from my time spent there,
will cause the gods themselves to shield their eyes.

© Nick Wallace