Tape loop

We played to death that soundtrack to our lives,
your blank-faced decoction of moods and moments,
journeys across a mean unpleasant land
during which even the silence ending
the first side took on a familiar shape,
became an interval between the beats,
and siblings behaved like long-lived opponents
merely at the mention of changing sides,
that tragic modulation, joy disbanding
as innocence attained its usual end,
and catchy tunes with many moving parts
gave way to something else, and muted hope –

We played
                                               moods and moments,
              across
                              the silence
the first
                                                 beats,
                     behaved
                                      changing
                                  joy
                                    usual
                                                     parts
                                                muted –