The Couch

You hadn't seen your father in such a long time

He died in the arms of his lover

How dare he?

Your mother never left the house

She never married anyone else

You took it upon yourself to console her

You reminded her so much of your father

So you were banished

And you wonder why you're so hypersensitive

And why you can't trust anyone but us

But then how can I begin to forgive her?

So many years under bridges with dirty water

She was foolish and selfish

And cowardly, if you ask me

I don't know where to begin in all my 50 old years

I have been silently suffering and adapting

Perpetuating and enduring

Who are you, younger generation

To tell me that I have unresolved problems?

Not many examples of fruits

Of this type of excruciating labor

How can you just throw words around

Like grieve and heal and mourn?

I feel fine, we may not have been born

As awake as you were

It was much harder in those days

We had paper routes uphill both ways

We went from school to a job to wife

To instant parenthood

I walked into his office

I felt so self-conscious on the couch

He was sitting down across from me

He was writing down his hypothesis

I don't know

I've got a loving supportive wife

Who doesn't know how involved she should get

You say his interjecting

Was him just calling me on my shit

Just the other day, my sweet daughter

I was driving past 203

I walked up the stairs in my mind's eye

I remember how they would creak loudly

She was only responsive with a drink

He was only responsive by photo

I was only trying to be the best big brother I could

I've walked sometimes confused

Sometimes ready to crack openwide

Sometimes indignant, sometimes raw

Can you imagine I pay him 75 dollars an hour?

Sometimes it feels like highway robbery

And sometimes it's peanuts

I wish it could last a couple more hours

So here we both are battling similar demons

Not coincidentally

You see in getting beyond

Knowing it solely intellectually

You're not relinquishing your majestry

You are wise, you are warm

You are courageous, you are big

And I love you more now

Than I ever have in my whole life