OMFG...

Some things run like red threads right through my life,
From earliest memories up to yesterday --
Traits that rise up in power to strike me down
As I have struck my parents, children, wife.

Those other loves are safe, out of the way,
And all my love invested where one frown
Can strike me with the impact of a knife —
You'd think I might have learned what not to say...

But I'm still deaf—and dumb—still play the clown,
Give my uncivil tongue free rein—can't stifle
Words that strike the blue notes in the gray.
Last night's missteps earn me a kind of crown.

Forgive. Give me some hope that I may live
To know your love gain. Oh, please, forgive.
c