Cut Now, Bleed Later

You couldn’t tell which hurts most,
you couldn’t say what next,
what else they haven’t said in this cold, cold war;
silences loud enough to shun ears, out-pound hearts.

He looks at her, she scowls away.

Someone comes by and they put up smiles,
waves, then frowns…
They look at each other, guilt flashes
and they turn away in their familiar lie.

They couldn’t tell who hurts deeper;
another talk would be another berate,
another waste of time.

And they wouldn’t know how, but they know the words,
they know they will hurt more than these cuts they bear;
these cuts they know, these cuts that have become the stamp of their union.

She knows he is no longer that man she can give her all
He knows he is slipping and she can’t stop the fall

Years of hard work reflect in the eyes of their kids
and happiness too high a cost to minus from their innocence

Yet each moment together, more slashes,
but they know the cut, they feel its slice
and they wait till they are apart
and they will grumble and will swear and
will bleed on everyone else.

2009©J.Ifeme Elo