Dear Stranger,

There was a time

You carried me around the house.

The warm sun shining on a cold day.

Our family felt happy and whole;

Then there was another time.

A time when mom was gone,

You were drunk on the couch,

At eight years old I was the adult

Watching over your five year old son.

I cleaned, I cried, I put you to bed.

At forty years old you were the five year old.

Four years later I left for one night;

The night she kicked you out.

You hit, yelled and grabbed what you could

In a furious, furocious fit.

I returned and you were gone.

Relief swept over me 

Yet still, 

I cried, kept to myself, and cried some more.

Hating myself for not having been there to help them

But you were gone, and I was free

Free from your fists and fits of rage,

Ready to pick up the pieces you broke;

and move on