Milieu

Photo by Gabe on Unsplash

and at the table at visitation was your dad
dad of one, of a son (was a dad of two
she went
somewhere else)

dad - big, tough, quiet guy
saw at visitation a girl (about the age when she
went somewhere else)
sobbing with her parents because —

dad got up quick and left into the hallway to pull himself together for
you
you who kept eating Chinese food he brought to be together for something you’ll never actually really talk about

later in the milieu the son and the girl were guessing Christmas songs for karaoke bingo
I looked out and saw the fangs of the winter sunset
the windows and the walls drowning its sound
the staff playing their roles
tomorrow will come again