The Work Here At Home

regarding returning to my childhood home, and the conflicting feelings of old trauma and new hopes.

I've been avoiding my roots 

so long they feel foreign 

I know I'll grow better once I've wrestled

with the decay but I'm afraid

to be entangled in the depths

                   Ask me to stay

My childhood was built of secrets and shame

If the walls could speak, I'd tear 

them down -- why disentomb an unhappy

home while I'm still practicing burying

the hatchet? 

                   Ask me to stay

You were the first promise of a future

I intended to make good on

Everything was always going to lead

me back to you and now

how could I leave all this work undone again?

                   Ask me to stay

Author's Note

I'm open to any and all constructive critique!