If I Were A Book

house of strangers

I live in a house full of stranger...
We are so unknown
to each other that
I just call them family.
A tired woman
whose tongue was snatched away
the minute she grew up.
I call her mom.
A neglected man
who once had dreams,
now they burn in his mouth.
He is known as dad.
Three strangers
in three different room,
worried that one conversation
can actually make
us understand
each other.
Wide awake all night
with thoughts screaming
in our heads
but god forbid
we actually say them
out loud to each other
and realise that we are all
just as vulnerable and hurt
as the other.
And so we live our lives.
With thoughts
that never become words
and masks that never
seem to come off.
We paint a sweet lie
to escape the loniless
instead of getting
to know each other.
We live in  a house
full of strangers
and call each other family.