Sacrifices

12/11/22

Spending gas money.
Driving me home
through kaleidoscope time,
the turning wheel shifts
with each nickel and dime.

Sat in the back,
carseat protecting my neck.
I turned in anger out
the window, I shout:
“You’re awful! No!
I
hate
you.
Bring me back.”
They drove me to the
hospital to confirm I
was happy, healthy, smile
inside,

“I want my friends!”
I yelled at them
and they brought ‘em
without a sigh.
Dealt with all the snide
remarks I target at
their hearts, a baby-born
bully. I looked down
upon them for having
no friends. I was nine
and already more wanted
than them.

As the clock kept ticking,
strike by strike,
turning and
shifting, the rigs,
gears, and growth kept
omitting till finally
I understood.

The minutes-hours-months
un-wasted, raising me to
be happy, healthy from
a new-born baby. A
self-made bully, bruised
to backseat protection.
They hand me friends
traded of their own
loneliness they offer up
to raise me from the
ticking clock that never
stops. Paid their way
to the grave so
I could do the same,

yes, it was on the day
their death came
I finally understood
the sacrifices good parents make.