We Built a House

We built a house out of silence and words,

With deep conversations we built the foundation,

Sweet honeyed words that oozed and dripped,

Hardened into concrete passion and love,

Kept level for a time as we patched the cracks,

We let down our guard as the foundation settled,

That was our first mistake,

With polite greetings we built the walls,

Used small talk as we went about our tasks,

In the walls silences became trapped for insulation,

Keeping uncomfortable spaces between us,

We talked with our eyes without sharing our thoughts,

That was our second mistake,

With angry words we raised the roof,

We built rafters with the appearance of strength,

But empty and unlivable to those inside,

We chose barbed shingles in an overlapping pattern,

 Beautiful to behold but they caught and tore the heart,

We lived in this house and never made repairs,

That was our third mistake,

If we had built our house with realistic expectations,

Knowing that marriage either grows or weakens,

We could have given it the attention it needed,

Sharing our dreams and goals as we stayed best friends,

Making additions, repairs and strengthening the foundation,

But we didn’t,

We built our house on hopes and dreams,

Thinking that the other’s faults would change,

Rather than learning unconditional love and acceptance,

Our house was built on the sand of our own vanities,

And when the storms came, and they always do,

The storms were stronger than a house of words,

And the only thing left is the silence.