Sound waves travel slower than light waves

Sound waves travel slower than light waves,
So I see your hand before I hear the sound of your anger connect with my face.
As your fingers clench together and crush my hope between them,
I see our past disintegrate through the seams and float to the floor in lethargic and chaotic swirls. 

The pinky finger, our first date, trembles beneath the weight of the future love of your fist, 
And I watch it slightly twitch over my attempt at impressing you. 
A lousy attempt at love in my mind, but one that somehow worked to convince you of my heart. 

Moving up I see the faded promise of love on your ring finger. 
Where once there was pride, there now shows despair at the waste of life lost. 
But I get ahead of myself in my mind just as much as I do in my life so let me come back to this finger. 

The knuckle of your middle finger looks ready to remove my nose from my face. 
The freckle of youth still showing, albeit stretched across the seams, but how can I ignore its beauty? 
For it is the cause of all this pain between us, or maybe just you. If that youth wasn’t there, would I be? 

For that matter, why am I here? What did I ever see in that pointing finger? 
Always accusing anyone and everyone-but mostly me-of everything and anything-but mostly nothing. 
I forget, and we forget, the pain to focus on the beauty, so maybe I need this. 

Go ahead.
Hit me.
Let your anger show me the truth. 
The truth that was hidden under that ring which you no longer wear has been exposed for too long, 
but the sound hadn’t reached me and I only saw, 
but now I hear. 

I hear your thumb, 
I hear the memories, 
The ones you loved, but I ignored.
The waves of sound catch up and I hear– 

Your fist– 

Your anger– 

Everything goes dark…and silent…
--Gregory P., Adult

Library note:
If you or someone you know has a problem with domestic / relationship violence please seek help: National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or text BEGIN to 88788.