People Hurt

People hurt you.
You start to think
That maybe you'll be okay,
just fine-
And then someone does something,
Says a few words
And you're right back at the beginning,
Still hurting.

It was going to be okay,
I'd put the moment behind me,
And then he wanted to talk.

The heart was going to heal,
to move on,
And then he asked to write me.

She lost her temper.
She forgot my scars.

Little sticks
that add up like straws until
One more
is
Too much.

But everyone hurts you,
just like how you'll hurt everyone.
Fair's fair,
But that means we try to be a better human.
Better humans seem to hurt less.

The first gathering of the New Year
felt like something from the past.
It looked like high school,
But perhaps with less innocence.
Funny how time marches on
but we do not.

The year ends
and I almost contemplate failure,
the things I nearly left undone,
the things I still have to do.
The year ends,
and I think of what will soon be done,
the things not yet assigned
that I can't wait to complete.

The pressure to write,
to fill in blanks,
That I might complete
The only resolution I've only been able to complete
for multiple years in a row.
To write more than last year,
than the year before that,
It gets a little harder
As life changes
and a style drifts away
from what worked so well before.

Driving all day
To leave family behind.
It's been lovely,
to see faces I only see
once a year-
twice if I'm lucky-
And to know the future meetings
Are growing less in number.

But this is how the world works.
You must work
To keep people in your life.
So we'll drive all ten hours
To spend one precious weekend
Sitting at the same table
As those that share our last name
and family tree.

They're here-
Or I'm there-
Gathered together
To be family
And enjoy our holidays.
The gift exchange hardly matters
Since we're together.

Family to look after me,
Family to care for in turn,
This is Christmas.
As we celebrate a Light,
A birth from long ago,
Love shines onward.