Broken

 
I was more innocent than I ever knew,  
Dreaming of picket fences, a life steady and true.  
You were supposed to be my anchor, my safe place,  
But the tides of life have washed away that space.  

Growing up in chaos, I fought just to survive,  
Learning to love, yet always deceived.  
You seemed so stable, with your family intact;  
I longed to be like that, but you turned your back.  
Your loud rants, dreadful words, and hurtful hands  
Ripped apart the glue that barely held my strands.  
I didn’t know how to love, completely broken,  
Drifting away, finding peace in dreams unspoken.  

From a past where love felt like a cage,  
I hoped you held the key, unaware we were each other’s rage.  
I sought your warmth but found only fire,  
You told me I was less, fueling my despair.  
In the echoes of fury, I learned how to sin,  
Desperate for affection, a fight I couldn’t win.  

That night left me bare, shattered, and lost,  
My spirit gasping, paying the cost.  
I became fragments of a heart stripped bare,  
In the mirror, I saw a ghost, a vacant stare.  

Prayers in the darkness, yearning for peace,  
Promising my girls that love would not cease.  
Yet strength became a mask, a burden I wore,  
In a house filled with shadows, I trembled and swore.  

Instead of leaving, I made choices I shouldn’t,  
Hoping to heal while causing you strife that wouldn’t.  
But the devil I found wore a familiar face,  
And in this twisted dance, I lost my place.  
I mourned what I lost, my reflection a ghost,  
In a life filled with shadows, I paid the cost.  

Now, twenty years later, what have we gained?  
A home filled with echoes of love turned to disdain.  
Together we’re broken, just cellmates in strife,  
Where meaning and joy have been stripped from our life.  
I grew weary and bitter, my heart heavy with dread,  
For the love that we nurtured has long since fled.  
I want for our girls unconditional love and peace,  
Something we could never find, a hope that won’t cease.  

So I cry and I scream in the silence of night,  
But deep in my heart, I know this isn’t right.  
You deserve your peace, and I yearn for the same,  
So I whisper goodbye, with a heart torn in two,  
I pray it’s the right choice, for me and for you.  

Though I’m scarred beyond measure, we will rise from this fall,  
I don’t blame you, I blame expectations after all.  
In the end, we all deserve love, not a fall,  
We owe it to our souls, to rise.