Voyeur

by Joe Farley

looking in windows at other people’s lives
you wonder why yours is not like theirs,
such simplicity and joy seems to exist
within those stone walls
while your life is fire and tempest.

what you do not see are the facts
hidden behind those perfect smiles.
the father has a mistress he meets
every Saturday in Delaware
when he goes to supervise repairs
at his rental units in Wilmington.

his wife drinks in secret and has affairs
to chase away the ice from a cold marriage.
their son sniffs turpentine and longs to be a woman,
while their daughter reeks of semen
returning home from dances at fifteen.
the bond that holds them together is money
and the desire to keep what they have
and gain more.

more is what they will get,
more and more pleasure and pain.
those without fear or heart or belief
will press on without pausing,
while the others will falter
under the burden of accumulated life.
there is no need to mention evil
it may not be the right thing to say.
they are just participants in a world
full of desires and choices,
nothing moralistic about it.
it just is what it is.
people do what they do.
they always have.

Try to shield your eyes with God
the best you can,
real life will still creep through.
you can not get away from it.
you also are part of this world,
and as part of it have needs
just as strong as the bodies
at the dinner table.
why you do not act
to fulfill your wants
may be a holdover from childhood,
a fault in your self,
a weakness or an ailment
that holds you back
from being the same
as that family that you envy.