Closet Issues

Closet issues? Closet issues? What are they?
Are they the subject matter we would just as soon go away.
You know, the things we don't talk about in mixed company.
We do talk about them behind closed doors and secretly.
We pray the neighbors don't suspect and our family doesn't know.

We whisper about them with our most secretive confidant;
only after they swear not to tell a soul.
It's the thing we are most ashamed of;
And even when we discuss it, we treat it with kid gloves.
And sometimes the things we are ashamed of are not even our fault.

They are perpetrated by others and we simply bear the cost.
But we own them and take them in,
even when we know they are someone else's sin.
What makes it worse is the perpetrator doesn't feel guilty;
And if they do it's profound, and they get our pity.
And as the victim, we take that in too;
We become even more befuddled, not knowing what to do.

So we take our feelings, their issues, our pain,
And we shove it in the back of the closet,
hoping never to see it again.
But no matter how hard we try to act as if it doesn't exist,
In the quiet moments, when our minds wander, it comes back…….it won't let us forget.
So we go back to the closet, piling more stuff in,
to block our direct vision of the problem within.

We stuff the closet until it's overflowing,
Hoping to God that it will keep us from knowing
that it's still there, no matter how hard we try,
and covering it up only adds to the lie;
the lie that we tell ourselves just to get by.

See, no matter how much stuff we put on top of this thing,
Until we face it, uncover it, pain it will always bring.
So with poetic permission, the door has been opened;
just a little to begin the process of growing.
The core issue must be uncovered in order to heal,
the cavernous pain that we currently feel.

But to get to it we have to dig deep,
Removing layer upon layer of the stuff that we've heaped,
on top of the real problem, who's pain we continuously reap.
See, no growth can occur if we never face this thing;
no relief can come, only more pain it will bring.
So the door is cracked and a little light's shining in.
Take the journey with me……and so we begin.