loveless (reconciled)

When we are together

many moments coalesce

fragments in time

and of feeling,

of experiences we shared

here within the heart felt place

we talk of agonies and leavings

of losses buried in silence

and of your brother’s mental illness

how he struggled to find

his voice

before his death

from an infection

they could not stem

with you I find a voice and a witness

where others often so only

shame and silence

thank you for the warmth of your heart

for understanding

and for the empathy

we both know attention is a real need

for a small child

and even the adult who buried

that part of them

so deeply inside

sadly it is often only

in later life

that we can become reconciled

to the bitter truths

of how absent it was

and how much we struggled

drowning at times

within that void

where only angry or loveless faces

were turned toward us