A Family of Vagabonds

A Family of Vagabonds

He wanted to go to the other side of the world

To escape his parents, his sister, his community.

His first taste of freedom was in college

And then shipped off to different corners of the world.

She wanted to escape music.

To escape lessons that began at an extremely young age,

To escape weekend lessons in Tokyo with a music professor,

To escape the reason why she ate dinners alone at home.

Their daughter wanted to escape their home,

A chaotic environment that made toxicity familiar

And warm love a strange concept.

She wanted to escape the mediatory role between two parents

That are better off separate than together.

But where can you escape when you are but a child?

A child that witnesses her father pinning her mother against the wall,

A child that witnesses her mother verbally abusing her father.

Where do you go to escape, dear daughter?

A room can only serve as a sanctuary to a certain extent,

But it can’t completely eradicate the shouts and the arguing.

You escape through books

You escape through art

You escape through a virtual universe

Dear daughter, do you not want to go outside?

You can escape through the backyard fence

And runaway.