I can hear him,

his voice a serpent sneaking in at night.

His promises were a magic trick,

vanishing right in front of me.

He would stop, get help.

He thought I would never notice.

Never be able to hear the slurring way he talked,

the stumbling feet walking in the halls,

the careless actions towards me.

He’s forgotten countless times what I have gone through.

The lies and never-ending games are bullets that pierce my skin.

Him and I are sitting in the same room,

old used bottles lay napping on the floor,

the vivid outline figure too unchallenging for my eyes to see on the sofa;

but he isn’t here.

Drugs are a river within his bloodstream;

Alcohol the riverbed to wash ashore.

I try to stand up for him,

I try to love him but it’s hard.

Is my family not good enough for him?

Am I not good enough to be his daughter?

The drugs and alcohol are his new family now; his children.

His greatest vice; their voices lulls him into something he can not handle.

My mother is strong; a rock, unbreakable

But even she was shattered glass pretending to be whole.

She tried to be the glue and stick every element back together,

but the mismatched pieces were too broken to be fixed.

Happiness is now an old friend to my family;

It’s not fair.

Screaming, yelling and arguing are the lullabies that sung me to sleep.

While the emergency sirens were the surprise alarms too late for me to be up.

He left us alone.

He left our family.

His promise made got a standing ovation;

his magic trick now complete.

Terminated the feeling of love within my heart towards him.

But what can I say, He made me who I am.