Crumbs

My sister has a daughter that doesn't look much like her

She looks more like the father she won't see

She's mostly on her phone these days

She's got a couple friends her age

Some secrets that she'd die to try to keep

When I'm staying in their guest room

I can hear her in the next room

The whispers and the silence and the sighs

She doesn't eat much breakfast

A single slice of toast at most

Watches from the corners of her eyes

There's crumbs around the corner of her mouth

You can hear the highway from their house

The traffic sounds like water in a river rushing south

We'll never win this war, but maybe we can wait it out

We'll never win this war, but maybe we can wait it out

Her mother is my sister

She's a fighter, but she's tired now

The third shift's such a bitch to decent sleep

On Sundays, she puts perfume on

And waltzes with the vacuum on

Sucks up the destruction of the week

In the kitchen, there's a radio

She sings along to the ones she knows

Remembers back when some of these were new

When the girls all chose a guy from the dances at the Y

Because it felt like that was what you're supposed to do

Now all those choices seem a little grim

Violent, wild, or disengaged and dim

The highway goes forever

But your funds will fence you in

Paying bills and stubbing out generic super slims

The years, they put the yellow in her hair and teeth and skin

Her husband was a contractor, a hunter, and a fly fisher

He never raised a hand, he just withdrew

So far inside his head that you would barely even notice him

A ghost that's usually in the other room

Eventually, they started sleeping separately

Eventually, it didn't even hurt

Last winter, he moved out to his brother's house

Eventually, he stopped going to work

Now she hasn't seen a check in seven months

They're living off of credit cards and crumbs

She's pretty sure her daughter has been meeting up with boys

We'll never win this war, but maybe we won't get destroyed

She's wishing that that highway

Wouldn't make that goddamn noise

She doesn't really trust her daughter's friends

But she's happy that I'm helping out with rent

So we stay up late and talk about the way it was before

We can maybe wait it out, but we'll never win this war

We can maybe wait it out, but we'll never win this war