"The Pleiades, Poems of A Darker Light" (Poetry) - "Glasgow Grin"

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"Glasgow Grin"

You mock me, whispering behind my back,

Laughing as I try to do my best.

"I'm not good enough," they say,

"Your brother's better, nicer too.

He helps everyone and can do anything."

I try to live my life as best I can,

You want me to call you Dad.

Yet you judge me instead of offering guidance.

You claimed to be my father,

But I never truly knew you.

You could have been my a teacher,

But instead, you became my adversary.

I've cut you out of my life—

Goodbye, Dad.

When people are wicked and disloyal,

I let them go.

I won't forgive or forget, to Hell with them.

Because they aren't sorry, and they thought I deserved what they did to me.

This life is mine alone to live.

I'm not sorry for doing what I must to survive.

It may not be the best way, but it's my way.

I carry countless scars from relationships I've tried to build and fix.

They've cut my face and expected me to smile.

I no longer care for those, who were my family and friends.

Who left me abandoned on a dirt road.

They called me brother, lover, friend—

But their smiles, wide and sharp,

Were nothing but a deception,

A Glasgow Grin that masked their betrayal,

Leading us all to a bitter end.

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