Forgiveness requires peace
For so long I was afraid of your hands and The boom in your voice And in my later years
I learned how you seared my mother’s skin With your fingertips when the scars Seemed to appear on my arms In between my legs And underneath my bra Somewhere near my uterus So the fear grew Until it was a mark of my feelings towards you And the cowardly little girl turned angry Refusing to let your manipulation pass for Pain or sorrow at the losses you created I am a body of memory Of injuries too big to hide And too deep cutting to simply learn from I struggle to hold any sympathy for you The love I was raised to keep tucked in my back pocket, specially for family Is battling with boundaries I need to create And burdens that were never mine to carry