Staring at walls I think A gruesome day when mom wailed, Piercingly that deaf ears pained Stabbing through my fragile heart, How I remember his cold ashy hands Bashing roughly on her smooth skin How she let it all out, tired of protecting me. I am the daughter who was protected from a monster. This is when I sat between books and scribbled For what eyes had seen, no heart had felt I wrote my mother's sorrow and cried in vain I teared my feathers page and never looked back For I am the daughter who saw when souls were bashed I who stood behind doors and drew pain The walls that I longed to paint with thy blood that he never wiped I drew the vivid picture of a coffin with a monster inside A monster that painted walls with my mother's blood.