When I see other
mothers and daughters, I flect
upon the mother

I never had. Nanny
after sitter, working for
the woman who claimed

her territory.
Illicit, I trespassed. Just
because I had to.

The dwelling I had
resided in was never
a home. Only the

property that which
belonged to her and my true
father, which I have.

I lived quietly
as an outsider. Surrounded
by strangers who were

never a family:
Only a woman who claimed
she never knew me

and a true father
who failed to acknowledge
that we are only

strangers under one
roof, and that love was extinct
in a world like ours.