Wings Soaring High

A small child sits
as an inattentive mother
downs alcohol like water.
Oblivious daughter smiles
as the mother snatches
for one more without care.

Another year passes.
The child no longer smiles
at her wasted mother,
who now swallows medicines
by the hand fulls.
Her eyes dull with reject
as her brother is hugged tightly.

Why not me, mom?
The girl cries out in hunger
for the love she's denied.
The mother's selfish words
ring loud and tears apart
the fragile girl's heart.
you're not perfect. Like him.

Years pass on and now
The mother wastes away
in jail with only herself to blame.
The cherished brother now
is a delinquent in juvenile.

The girl lays in the mental ward.
The voice of her older sister echoing.
Be who you are, sister. Don't hang on
to the person who has wronged you.

A month passes slowly.
The girl is finally freed.
Her hand grips the phone
As she whispers to her sister.
You were right. It's time for a change.
I shall live for who I am.

And with those words
the daughter walks out
with head held up proudly,
Wings soaring high.
She is free of those pains.
To be herself by her choice.
A perfection like none other.