It doesn’t come through fangs

It comes through words

The ones you say when you’re home

Leaking into your kids’ ears

It fills their veins and fills them up

They say the same thing to someone else

You smile and laugh

That’s my kid

You raise your glass

The poison moves

Bit by bit

Piece by piece through your bloodline

Until one day someone makes a friend

Someone reads a book

And feels the antivenom flow through them