Fire Eyes

Hot red anger pulses through my veins,
Heating me to my core
And scorching a hole in my heart.
It hurts. Throbs and burns with emotion.
How dare you.

Little siblings crying, begging "don't go".
Mother sobbing, crushed and helpless.
A girl. Fire burns in her eyes and in her soul.
She sheds no tears for your retreating back,
None for a man better off gone.
But one single tear falls from her cheek.
She can't help it; sorrow fills the house,
Growing, wrapping itself around everything.
Constricts, knaws, chews its way through the walls
Until it seems the whole house may collapse.
The girl with the fire eyes turns cold,
The hate freezing in its tracks.
She will never waste energy on you again.

She holds a small boy in her arms;
He shakes with tremors of sorrow,
Tears pouring from his eyes,
Destroying any composure the mother grasps.
In a mass of red-blotched faces,
One remains clear.
The girl tries to be the glue, the pillar;
Strong enough to comfort them all.
She hopes.