Eyes To See

I wonder sometimes
How I missed
The signs
That pain
Was surely
Coming

I look back

With sadness
At my open hearted
Unsuspecting
Self

Amazed that

I didn’t

See any of it
Coming

I didn’t yet

Have eyes
To see

We don’t fear

What we don’t know exists

Only later

Once bitten
Do we look at jaws
And tremble

Only once

We have survived
A loved one’s journey
Into mental illness
Do we hesitate
In the presence
Of warped logic

We don’t fear

What we don’t know exists

We take no precautions

Against what we don’t know
Can hurt us deeply
And change us
Forever