No One Could Love The Child

NO ONE COULD LOVE THE CHILD

No one could love the child
they said it like it was fact
as if she arrived already broken
as if nothing had ever attacked

She learned to read every silence
like it was warning her name
a smile could hide something violent
a hand could still carry blame

They said there was something inside her
something rotten, something wrong
but never asked what was done first
before she learned to be strong

Nobody asked why she went quiet
why her tears stopped coming out
why she could sit in the darkness
without ever making a sound

They only saw what was left over
not what had been taken away
a child who learned how to vanish
just to survive every day

She wore her past like a noose rope
tightening whenever she breathed
every raised voice was a trigger
every door slam made her freeze

She hated the night for its thinking
she hated the silence it kept
because that’s where the memories waited
where everything broken had slept

All of the words that were spoken
the ones that should never exist
you’re nothing, you’re too odd, and useless
they lived in her head like a fist

Words don’t just die when they’re spoken
they stay and they learn how to grow
they dig into places unseen
and become all the things that you know

She grew into something older
but never escaped what she was
a child still trapped in her body
still bleeding from invisible cuts

She looked in the mirror and hated
the face that was staring back
not knowing it wasn’t her failing
but everything she had lacked

Maybe that face was just waiting
for someone to finally see
not a problem, not damage, not burden
but a child who was never free

But nobody ever said it
no voice ever broke through the dark
she learned to become something harder
a life built without a heart

Not because she chose to be empty
but softness had cost her too much
love had once felt like a weapon
and trust was a dangerous touch

So she built herself into silence
into distance, into stone
if nobody ever could reach her
then nobody could make her alone

They called her cold and unfeeling
as if that was all she became
not knowing the child inside her
was still whispering someone’s name

No one could love the child
that’s what they kept saying still
but maybe the truth was different
maybe no one ever will