Angst.

Angst. What Love Does. Cancer and Alcohol. 

Washing down the pills with his alcohol
he doesn’t understand
nobody understands, his soul,
lost with the rest of them

The smiling family looking back at him
so cautious as not to
disrupt his ways, promoting
the vicious temper within

Never violent, that wasn’t his way
tortuous was not his game,
the subtle gestures,
were all but enough

There she is, the lonely wife
dealing with too much
the smiling face just too bright
comprehending nothing

The children, no longer children,
grown up knowing
they were loved and wanted
but scared. Scared.

The news they heard, although said,
with calm face and calm mind,
frightened them,
eyes left blinking, innocent no more.

It’s cancer. They told them.
but not serious, don’t fuss
as a family we shall conquer this
needs do, what needs must.