Being the oldest of three gave me the unspoken job

 

To be their guardian angel and hold them when they sob

 

For years and years we witnessed our parents fight

 

They never reasoned they always thought that they were right

 

As they would banter day and night

 

I held my siblings as their little bodies shook in fright

 

I stayed strong and unyielding but the tears blurred my sight

 

As I reached sixteen my parents still fought

 

It felt like PTSD sunk in and made me distraught

 

My father lurched for my mother with a vengeance in his eye

 

My sister panicked with melancholy and began to cry

 

He almost swung on her and that’s when I jumped in

 

I held my father back from committing a regretful sin

 

My brother held mother by the hoodie on her skin

 

People fall out of love, I didn’t know that back then

 

What I know now is that love is fragile and crumbles like Berlin

 

There stood my siblings and I

 

Us three

 

We held them back and broke it up like we were referees

 

I felt like I was in the middle of a boxing match

 

And yes in my childhood this was the rough patch

 

We awaited for the divorce so they could finally detach

 

I had to be mature and be the figure to my sister and my brother

 

That our parents didn’t love like we love each other

 

That yelling isn’t a successful way of communication

 

That we must come together with an explanation and hold conversation

 

I had to step up and lead by example

 

Whether it was showing the value of education

 

Or fixing them some Campbell

 

My love for them goes deeper and deeper

 

For I will always be my brothers and my sisters keeper