The tiles on the bathroom floor are broken

caked with filth and dust

from years of no one caring enough to clean them.

They're streaked with lines

of dirt and mildew.

A smell of cleaner

A bucket

A brush

Maybe scrubbing it will work

Maybe it will wash away the heartache

the pain, the sting

Wash it all away

Nope, still dirty.

Brown dirt filled water sloshes across the floor

revealing the brilliant 

white that the tiles were meant to be

But it wasn't clean

the hurt hadn't beenscrubbed away 

like the dirt

and the frustration wasn't gone

like the stains on the tile

To any guests in this house of pain

the tiles will be clean,bright, and shining

they'll even look that way

to the people who live here

But to me 

the tiles on the bathroom floor 

are far from clean

and they never will be