I've written this to be a performance piece, so I'm not entirely sure how well it reads. Any input welcome :-)
I watch you consume alcohol
'til alcohol consumes you,
'til the beast that's been scratching underneaths released,
and your skin suffocates under the furs of the pit-bull.
My hair's grown much darker now,
my fading face is wiser,
time's creased sun-ray's round my eyes
but watching you
one gulp too much,
it's like the last five years haven’t passed us by.
This is just a replay
of what happened in our yesterday's,
and time has not even begun to tame
that vicious dog inside.
So here I stand
between your bunched up fists and the latest stranger,
who for you
through your alcohol induced anger
has become the girlfriend who just dumped you,
the mother who didn't hug you,
the carer who tried to knife you,
the rapist father, all the bastard abusers,
the owners of the children's homes,
and everything that ever hurt
and everyone that did you wrong.
But a wiser me stands between you
and the latest face that holds your history,
and my wiser hands reach for your face
and my wiser voice says; 'LOOK at me!'
'Coz wiser me stands over your fists,
not under them,
and wiser me isn't afraid of your rage any more.
Wiser me has recognised we both inherited anger,
though while mine inclines me to make love,
yours calls you into war.
So wiser me won't flee from fists,
I know that whatever pain they might inflict
will be nothing compared to what I witness
while I'm watching you consumed by wounds.
So my wiser hands reach for your face,
and wiser me says;
'Look at me! Look at my eyes!'
And for the first time,
you back away,
and for the first time,
I snap the spell,
and for the first time,
I watch you...
cry