THE REJECTION

THE REJECTION

My mother died that winter,
I didn’t understand,
why people said be strong now,
or tried to hold my hand.

Dad found another woman,
I hoped she’d understand,
I didn’t need a new mum,
just kindness from her hand.

But things began to alter,
when Dad was not around,
her smile would disappear,
her voice became a frown.

She never called me daughter,
I never called her Mum,
we lived inside one household,
but love would never come.

Dad thought that we were happy,
that’s all he seemed to see,
but when he turned away,
she turned away from me.

She moved my mother’s pictures,
she emptied every drawer,
until the mum I once knew,
was hardly there anymore.

I kept her little picture,
beneath my pillow tight,
I’d whisper softly, “Mummy,”
and hold her every night.

I started getting quieter,
I learned to disappear,
a child can always sense it,
when she is not wanted near.

Dad stood between us both,
although he never knew,
each time he took her side,
he broke his daughter too.

One night she stared at me,
with anger in her eyes,
“You’re just like your mother,”
she said with cold despise.

She thought that it would hurt,
but something changed inside,
if I was like my mother,
I’d wear those words with pride.

She never called me daughter,
perhaps she never could,
but Mum had always loved me,
and that was just as good.