An Argument

A poem

Our words spiraled, rising high into the air
Venting heat as our tempers rose, a funnel of fume
Each sure of the righteousness in our injury
Our voices braided, overlapping
One speaking past the other
You accused, I answered
Tensions electric in the small space between us
A chasm of infinite distance
Only words could bridge
So we expelled air
All glottal stops and hisses and spittle
Projection and bitter memories informing each vowel
When my heart longed only for calm honesty
In the exchange, that cacophonous tempest
Swirling like a blade of finality
A dance destined to stop forever
Cutting remarks spilling from lips, met only in refusal
To open with forgiveness
The din became a hymn
Our speech threading between the cracks in the other
Filaments of soothing calm finding a path
In this tower of indignity
Acid became filigree, if we’d but let it
Spew became harmony, warmth followed regret
And shout became song
Harmony finding a new rhythm again
Treading a path forged in previous fire
A groove that knew the plow that formed it
This furrow that wouldn’t define the bond