Paper thin apartment walls splashed in gasoline screams. Through the window I saw it all.

Sparks fly in heated arguments.

One sided wrestling matches struck.

Stoked flames burned down their every home.

Not a blazing inferno widely beckoned but the unnoticed carbon monoxide tragedy. Through the air that stayed tainted despite my need to cleanse.

I watched from outside their window. Rooted to where I always stay. Enlightened to who they are behind their masks.

Him with his harsh words. Him with his iron fists hammered at fixtures. Him with silent treatments. Bruising and covered up behind well placed niceties in frames seen from the windows.

Her with tears that fill rivers.

Her with all her stain glass scars desperate to be a work of art.

Her with every ounce forced together under pressure that makes diamonds.

Until she snaps.

Nature took its course. As it always does. And I saw from here. Forgotten. Always watching. Always knowing where the bodies will end up buried. A cemetery nearing its capacity. Where the cover ups started. As leaves drop dusting in color year after year.

With nothing left but the comfort of her escape. Until I’m cut down and but a stump. With the memories in all I witnessed to pollute the soil. With the hope she reinvents herself the hero. With the knowledge as always that she is free, time and time again and I am still just a tree, rooted to where I stood.