Ten Years in Seven Words

Fri, 06/28/2019 - 00:11 -- ftupper

I don't remember the day I just remember how it felt

Like everything I'd ever known was just beginning to melt

 

I flash back to age 7 and I'm walking up the stairs

Mind filled with bad dreams and all my scary nightmares

I can hear them yelling, I hide behind the wall

I listen to every insult, every name call

I can't go back to bed, that's where the monsters wait

But I can't go to mom and dad, their air is teeming with hate

I cry myself to sleep, the monsters taunt me with divorce 

Mom and dad tuck me back in, lying "we love each other of course"

 

The memories jump to fifteen, when the cracks began to form

Their wedding was arranged, because a baby would be born

My basis for love was a shotgun marriage

A quick ceremony to precede the carriage

And yet irony struck when the baby was lost

The marriage remained, but what was the cost?

My foundation was flawed, each memory misted by doubt

Our familial pink elephant had finally broken out

 

Two years later, back where we started

Two years worth of insight that left me broken hearted

There were screams at my sister for her hatred of our Dad

Although our DNA matches, my father wasn’t the same as she had

He wasn’t there for first days, soccer games, or scraped knees

But three years later, through it all he was there for me

I finally understand that this marriage holds no love

This wasn’t something conceived by someone up above

 

Days passed, the mood was cold, but the heat began to rise

I could see my world begin to melt right before my eyes

Memories of a little girl enchanted by her parents

Slowly faded with the thoughts of what was now apparent

It took time and I was scared when the words cascaded out

But by this time I knew, I didn’t have a doubt

 

The words shook inside my mouth and erupted oh so hoarse

“Mom?” I choked out quietly, “I think it’s time for a divorce”

 

The day I realized happiness was more than just a marriage

Was the day my child-like innocence was left, alone, to perish

I aged ten years with 7 words, spilled out of my heart

Growing up set in just then, I knew it was the start

Now two years passed and here I am, writing about what’s broken 

Here they are, nineteen years worth of words finally spoken.

 

This poem is about: 
Me
My family
Poetry Terms Demonstrated: 

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