The Man Who Waits Outside Our House

There was a man
Who waited
In his car
He waited outside our home
For hours if need be
As his daughter played within.

At first we only saw the cherub child
Little girl belly down on the floor
Yelling "Go Fish" with the volume
known to her kind.
We didn't know he waited.

When discovered he was entreated-
Come in! Come in!
And finally he came.

He waited because he worried
Two people essentially alone.
He waited because he had failed
Two people homeless and scared.
He waited out of experience
Of other children, ruined from lack of attention.

These stories spilled from him
Like a confession to a priest
Lacking absolution, forgiveness and redemption.

Dismissal

Time after time,
I speak to no one.
Sharing my thoughts,
For what?
To whom?
No one hears.
No one cares.

Fuck you.
If you hear not,
If you care not.
I am not an extension of you.
My mind is my own.
I am not owned,
Nor will not be brought down
By the weight of your dismissal.
I have needs.
I have a soul.
I will not betray it
By emptying myself,
Of thoughts, ideas of my own.

What, you may ask,
Of your marriage?
What, you may ask,
Is the value of your family?

If I am empty,
There is no wife.
There is no mother,
Merely an empty nodding puppet,
Where a person once stood.

Ignore me not, dismiss me not,
For I would not do so to you.