She challenged me, to a game of whom no one wins
She made me grow up faster than what I should’ve
I stand shaking in front of her as she chases away all of my dreams
So that I can fix the mistakes she’s made,
Children who weren’t my own, who needed someone to take them home
She cared little for me, as do I for her
With the dark puddles under my eyes, dry and exhausted
From sleepless nights, not feeling my limbs that have gone limp
Rocking them back to sleep, with the sweet lullaby
Wishing them back to sleep
I was the hero in the nighttime
Sleep-deprived, caring for those who weren’t mine
With night terrors of my own, pushing them away to care for those who didn’t know
with quivering lips trying to hold the fake crescent of my lips
Wondering if I was the reason, why she left
Always returning with red puffy eyes, and the stench of a cheap men's scent
Besides the familiar smell of the man who she was to have bonded her soul to
And the kids she put herself into
I was the one left with the burden of choice
To see her soulless eyes, just waiting to get high
And yet she returns in her broken-down Toyota, as she opens the door the suffocating
The smell of marijuana evaporating into thin air
As she stampers up the driveway returning to destroy our lives once more
Set us free, I pleaded to the so-called heavens above, not to just save me but to set the ones who were punished by the actions bestowed by our mother
She was gone for good
Pushed out of our lives as if she was just a ghost who gave us false hope
I got rid of her, I vanished her back to the place she escaped to in the night and day
I was the one given the burden
I was the one left to fix the broken hearts of those who were left behind
I am the protector, I was then, As I always will be
The protector stands tall and brave with you, but cries and suffers alone.