“ Mes Parents” (My Parents) by Jöseph Lee Foster-Shumpert-Lear, 1996
Published 8 November 2005 :: Poetry
Read more by Jöseph Lee Foster-Shumpert-Lear
A gun is fired
A young boy’s life slowly leaves his body;
As their tears began to fall
You choose now to care
All you ever cared about before were “things”
You wanted to give me the world
While all I wanted was your love
You left me with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents,
And friends
is no wonder
I look to them as a family
Were you the ones that I could count on
Were you the ones that would be there to the bitter end
Well . . .
Where were you
Where was my support;
As my life was torn apart
I cried myself to sleep for seven years
And you didn’t care
You weren’t even there
I was molested
And you called it all a nightmare
Now I’m finally at peace
No more harm can come to me
After all that I went through
All the times that I gave you a chance
But you turned your back on me
And left me alone
After so long
You dare call yourselves . . .
My parents
