Burn It All Down

The signs were there from the beginning,

All roads lead to betrayal.

But after a while, we settle, we believe.

Comfort leads to complacency—Maybe the words “I can change” really hold meaning.

So, why'd you go and burn it all down?

There’s proof, for a while, but the cracks show.

With every critical moment that ends in the wrong choice.

Selfless was never in your vocabulary.

Everything is a trade—a tit for tat.

Unmet needs are left to simmer at the surface,

Only yours, of course…

Because what could I possibly need that you aren’t offering? Why am I not paying the debt I owe you?

I guess that's when you decided to burn it all down.

Resentment is a plague that erodes until there’s nothing left.

Then there she was,

Insistent and brazen in her chase,

Still, I’d like to believe

A stronger man wouldn’t have strayed.

Fifteen years and not a word,

Not a warning before you had her in my home.

Did our family photo cast a shadow on your midnight tryst?

The cameras were off, so I’ll never know.

It could have been civil, maybe even kind—A stable transition for the one who relies on us so dearly.

She loves you so fiercely—Such wonder in her eyes looking at her hero.

I’ll never tell her, but one day she’ll know.

She’ll make up her own mind about the man who chose to throw a grenade into a nuclear family in the name of ego.

She'll see the way you burned it all down.

The thing you don’t understand is, no one cares about “why” when you’re fucking someone that’s not your wife.

You looked me in the eye when you said “forever”,

But I’m a realist,

I know all time is borrowed.

It was never perfect,

But the part I chose to ignore was that the bones weren’t good.

So why am I sitting here broken-hearted and surprised that when things got hard, you did too?

It’s incredible how easy it is not to miss someone when you hate them.

Because whatever they ever did for you will never come close to what they did to you.

I suppose, in the end, I'm actually glad you burned it all down.