500 miles to watch

My dear aunt die

Would like eulogize her

But I didn’t really know her well

 

That being said

She gave me

Hope and relief

Which now causes me grief

 

She loved her brother

And that love

Was extended to me as well

Without her, my life

Would be more of a hell

 

But that is not

What this trip was about

It was a benchmark

Of what  I am

Then and now

 

You see,

I recently learned

All the crap

Of my early life

Just wasn’t my fault

 

The shame of our dirty house

And the mess that we were

Was not my fault

Time to drop the shame

 

The abuse and the neglect

That we had to survive

Was not my fault

I can drop it before I die

 

The shame of our poverty

Only in a social sense

I can release it

Because it was due to sense

not cents

 

Most of all

I can release the shit

Literally and figuratively

It’s not my fault

And that’s it

 

It feels so good

To release this from my past

And speak my truth

And feel the pleasure

That lasts and lasts

 

So goodbye  to my hometown

Gone from farm to shopping mall

Now it’s all ugly

Just like the past I had to endure