Goodbye my "family"
I’ll see you in another world
where you can see
where you are not blinded by false pride
and grandiose visions of yourself
Where you will able to see all that done
how deeply you have hurt me
how crushing it was
for me to come to terms
with who you are.

Oh, I tried
Two rounds of therapy
Where all you did was attack

How can you justify an attack
against someone
who you started beating in the crib
who you called worthless and unwanted

It is almost incomprehensible that you, or anyone, can deliver such cruelty to a child
And when confronted, how could you lie without any sense of shame or remorse?

You have made me confront evil and seek to understand it
I know you were mistreated too
I know
But it was no cause to pass that cruelty on to me

The cycle ends here
A decade of therapy and self help groups
Have helped me let go of anger that you left me with

Still, I hunger and long for a loving family.
Increasingly, I fill that need with honorable and loving friends.
It is a place that you could have had in my life
But you prefer your make believe world
Where you can imagine yourself good
only by fictionalizing your true life

Your poem sums up my recent estrangement from my parents. It really helps me to see that I am not the only one who has had to deal with this. Please email me. I would love to hear more of your story. I'm sure it would be very inspiring to me.

Aimee