Past Shattered

Mum's in the kitchen, just out of view,
as me from her,
as the smell of overcooked stew floats
over from the oven,

I'm. not. hungry.
Even if I've been out all day playing footy
with the boys in the street,
I stay hidden even though I know in fifteen minutes she'll be shouting
"time to eat!"
and reluctantly we'll all sit around the table,
so I watch her through the mirrored window,
Trying her best to keep together a family that's failing its final test,
we know it, but no one says anything,
just silently discuss the same things we discussed yesterday,

A strange feeling at thirteen to know everything's changing,
As bad for my sister, still maybe just too young to
understand the long-lasting effects of what's about to hit us.

But it's coming, I can feel it,
so I do my best to distract
from what we all know to be the facts,

I take the plate of shoe tough stew, screaming bloody murder as I do,
and smash the bastard mirror that offered me that hidden view of my mother,

And that was the beginning of the rest of all of our forevers.