Did You Ever?

Did you ever

hear your parents screaming outside your bedroom door

all night long?

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

But not Thursday or Friday because Dad was out

getting drunk at a different bar each night.

Did you ever hear crying from your mother

so piercing it woke you up so you

end up crying too?

Begging for it to stop

checking the time as hours went by.

Seconds, minutes, hours

the hands turned round and round.

Tick tock, time for school.

Did you ever put on a fake smile

to stop your friends from asking about

What happened last night?

To show yourself that you were strong and

no one was going to bring you down.

Your life was going to go on as if nothing was happening.

Even though every night it was, and you knew it.

Did you ever dread going home

at the end of a long day?

You just want to lie in your own bed

but you know yours is tainted in tears from the night before.

Then it all starts over.

Here comes the screaming.