To care for their children, my big brother and me,

My parents would willingly part a raging sea,

The modern-day Byzantine icons, living, breathing saints,

A slash to my youth, their troubled life taints.

 

My mother, the Madonna, a woman woven in gold.

She couldn’t be mentally ill! How brash, how bold!

After years of regret, anguish, a life in Hell,

She still can’t forgive herself, come out of her shell.

 

She loved him so dearly, another brother named Daniel,

Forced to give him away, like a runty Cocker Spaniel.

Upon his death, her whole life was shattered,

PTSD, anxiety, depression, her mind left scattered.

 

My father, Superman, the man of steel,

Left a wound in our hearts that may never heal.

Taken away by police cars, a 4 year old couldn’t understand.

“Give me my daddy”, I would cry and demand.

 

Mind over matter, mind not on the road,

At his trial, my tears surely showed.

With prison visits, metal detectors were a must,

Even if stainless, through tears, steel will eventually rust.

 

I love them so dearly, I adore them still,

Through their painful lessons, rise and fall I will.

No one is perfect, a line beautifully sung,

Idealization is best left for the young.