My mum waits for me on the blue porch.

She sits in the wooden rocking chair,

Humming a song about birds and trees.

She waits for me to come home.

She’s going to wait for a long time.

I’m going to wait a long time.

We both survived my dad.

Bloody and weary, 

We crawled out of the life

That he occupied. 

She crawled away from that house

And emerged a free woman.

I dragged myself away from that house

And remained an orphan.

I know my mum was just trying to survive him.

But that doesn’t change the fact

I had to survive her too.