Between Bruises & Blooms

There are two versions
of the same decade.

One counts
plane tickets,
summer holidays,
soccer registrations,
bedrooms,
phone calls,
days.

The other
counts bruises
no photograph could prove,

panic
no calendar recorded,

and the impossible mathematics
of trying to keep children safe
while breaking your own heart
at the same time.

One says,

“I affirm and say…”

The other whispers,

“Please understand why.”

Both are signed.

Both are sworn.

Both become evidence.

But somewhere
between paragraph eighteen
and Exhibit H,

between objections
and responses,

between what can be attached
and what can only be survived,

there lives a mother

who never wanted
her life
to become paperwork.