Family Dinner Table

the boy sparkles and exudes pure life
as he tells the day’s delights
at the evening dinner table
until the sad weak scornful father
mimics his overbite
and cruelty wins the prize:
the predator has pinned its prey,
humiliation stains youthful eyes,
sin again has had its say ,
strained silence fills the air.

now plates of good warm food
sit like cords of cold wet wood
as hearts thickened
with threaded fear
begin their grayish brood.

and throughout this stupid
unconscious strife,
the boy held deep in quiet
still glistens in cloudy waters
of scary rage and sorrow,
listens to hidden strengths
and exudes his ongoing life.