by Nicole Burton

I grow up fatherless

A brother who didn’t sign

Up for the role.

Another who took it willingly

But eventually went away,

How can I blame them.

When I was told

To blame me.

Isn’t that what you meant 

When you told me:

I am too much like my mother 

      Who you couldn’t love.

I am too sensitive 

     When it was you who lacked a feeling.

I don’t forgive easily 

     Why was I supposed to? 

Tell me. 

How can you judge for who I’ve become

When you weren’t around to see 

All the reasons why.

You three left. 

Not a trace of guilt..

I swallowed your guilt, ate it so I wouldn’t starve.

Learned to swim, rather than float

No longer wait for your life raft 

That was never coming.

So you do not get to tell me, 

I am unloveable.

Too sensitive

Unforgiving.

When you left me to drown. 

Instead of dying, 

I became more, then you could ever be.

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