The Burning Child

You left me in the morning when the sky was turning gray,  

Slipped out like a whisper, like you had nothing more to say.  

No note, no explanation, just the echo of your name,  

And here I am, a child, left alone to bear the shame.  

Did you think I wouldn’t notice, that I wouldn’t even care?  

Did you think I’d just forget, like you were never there?  

But your absence carved a wound, a scar that doesn’t fade,  

And I’ve spent days in silence, choking on the blade.  

I grow up with questions that no one could explain,  

A heart full of anger, soaked in bitter pain.  

Where were you when I needed arms to hold me tight?  

Where were you when the nightmares haunted me at night?   

Did you ever think of me, or did you block me out?  

Erase me from your memory, erase me from your doubt?  

But I am not so fragile, I won’t be cast aside—  

I am the storm you left behind, I’m anger’s fierce tide.  

So here’s to you, the ghost who walks the halls of my past,  

The mother who abandoned, who never thought to ask.  

I don’t need your reasons, I don’t need your lies—  

Just know you built this fire, see it burning in my eyes.  

I’ll rise from what you left, stronger than before,  

A girl who found her power in a mother’s open door.  

And when you look back, if you ever dare to see,  

Know that it was you who made this fire inside me.