Here’s the thing

I grew up in your shadow

Everyday

Your darkness

Drowned my sunlight

I couldn’t compete

Everyone flocked to you

You were the rock star

The violent one

The crazy one

I stood back hidden in the shadow

I raised your kids

Soothed their wounds

Hell I still do

I love you I do

But I am tired

Tired of being the shadow

Tired of licking wounds

I am out of salve and patience

I warn people

I do

They never listen

They don’t really know you

They see what I want to see

The fun, the laugh

But I know what is underneath

I have been there

Thru it all

I know your shadows are darker

Your crazy is deeper

Your haunting laugh

Is as phony as your tears

You aren’t real

You never were

I know that because I was there

You are the shallow end of the pond

The pretty flowers don’t go very deep

The petals blow away quickly

I suppose you don’t mean

To hurt the ones who love you

But you always do

Always

I wonder if love even lives

Inside that heart of yours

Encased in faux gold

Crusted with cubic zirconia

I guess I sound bitter

It hurts to watch

You slay them all

One by one

No one sees you do it

No one understands it

Only me

And I am hiding in the shadows

Where you put me long ago.