Christmas, Halloween, Easter These are some holidays you may love But when I was 5 these were some things I didn't know of
I use to get in trouble during school For telling all the kids Santa Claus didn't exist That the Easter Bunny could never **** eggs And the tooth fairy didn't leave you money
When I turned six I was so excited And rushed home from school that day I only lived right up the hill I ran as fast as my chubby legs could go Bursting through the door I screamed from my core
“Did you know Did you know they dedicated this day Today, March 18, just to me? They sang me a song and gave me this paper shaped like a crown”
I held it up as high as my arm could reach Until it dropped from my hand When I realized I was the only one there
I didn't know then but I know now What a birthday is But we didn't celebrate holidays Maybe because my grandma was a Jehovah's witness
Or maybe we just didn't have money to spend On such irrelevant items Money was only to be spent on the rent Water, food, and ya know, *****
How else was mommy suppose to relax How else was she suppose to take naps After she sipped from her flasks
During the day she sent us outside to play From sunrise to sunset And that’s how I became black At least that's what I told my class When they questioned my skin
“Mommy needs quiet time so I get to play at the park all day” “The sun liked me so much it gave me a kiss To remind me of moments like this”
Moments of screaming and bottles breaking Moments of hiding under beds and in closets Because monsters weren’t there They were right outside our doors Waiting for us to drop our guard
I could never turn off the light Because I was scared of them Roaming into my room
My sister and I We held each other tight Because that’s when we were left alone
My mother would leave rambling she had ‘places to be’ And if she came home before dawn You wish she wouldn't have Because they both would stink And be unsteady
She screamed and she kicked Or at least that's what I did When her boyfriend smacked her And I tried to stop him
Everytime he’d say he wouldn't do it again Yet black and blue covered her skin She’d tell us to stop when we tried to protect her When really she should have been protecting us
When I was seven I stopped believing in heaven And stopped praying to God every night By that time I had been to multiple churches None of them seemed quite right
I didn't think that I could believe in someone so cruel Because the god they talked about in school Would never use me like a puck Flinging me around from home to home
When I was eight I started to appreciate What my sister meant to me Yeah siblings they fight all the time But she didn't commit a crime So I don't understand why she was taken from me
I didn't see her again until our grandpa's funeral Where she dared me to touch his nose
“Come on” “Just do it” “Don’t be a baby” “Scared he’s gonna bite you?”
“Uh no because he’s DEAD”
But I did it I have never felt a rush From such any icy touch before in my life
And although his soul was a runaway ghost I wanted to climb inside with him And forget that death is the end of life
When I was ten I swore never again To love a women who’s addiction ran deeper Than her own daughter’s blood
I think that’s when I finally understood The beginning of adulthood And it slowly brought my wretched childhood To an end
I now celebrate every holiday that I didn't know in the past Money is no longer spent on drugs that never last
I'm not black because of the sun Or my mother’s abandonment I'm not me because two people made an immature decision
I no longer see women get hit and believe there’s nothing wrong with it I no longer sleep in the light because I know monsters don't hide in the dark
The world keeps spinning and life moves on That's the hardest part to come to terms with
And while my life may have begun with uncontrollable tragedy The rest of it is up for me to decide