Curses

They close in around me,
I sense them,
slithering beneath my skin's surface.
For ages, I've fled,
Always fleeing,
striving to outpace myself,
Yet I can't shake off
The turmoil within.

A desperate longing for recognition,
My legs mirror my father's,
Their likeness strikes me,
His shadow, once a looming cloud
In my tumultuous youth,
Now seeks refuge
Within the corners of my home,
nesting in familiarity.

My uncle's transgressions,
A debt that demands payment,
Life insists I bear the burden,
poison from the rivers of the past,
courses through my veins,
Bubbling, churning, boiling.

In the familiar eruption,
This tale unfolds once more,
One of anguish and ruin,
Yet the wounded persist,
Their scars run deep,
Trauma unhealed, festering.

Not a whisper escapes,
They came for them,
And upon their demise,
They come for me.
Black roots decay,
A cycle spreading like weeds.