Dear Elizabeth

A Foggy September Memory

Dear Liz,

I heard you responded well to the last poems I wrote,

That it helped you see things the way they are meant to be seen,

But overall, it has helped you to somewhat cope,

You are only 12, and I can't be deceived,

You are struggling again, battling against the same pain,

In the last three years, Mom has been in and out of your life,

As a result, she has already abandoned you two more times,

The first time she came back, you were in fourth grade,

It had only been a year since she had originally left,

But she came back, saying that she missed her family too much,

You guys took her in, and forgave her,

In hopes of never losing her again,

You had only been with her 3 weeks, but still, she decided to leave,

You were sharing a room with her, the night before she was gone,

She had been acting suspicious, but being a child, you refused to see such acts,

She left in the middle of the night,

Not caring about anyone but herself,

She didn't even care that you were in the same room,

Breathing in her selfishness, inhale by inhale,

I don't remember exactly the day she left again,

But as you will learn later on,

PTSD has caused such memories to be blocked,

At the age of nine, you never noticed,

You didn't realize how different she was,

She tried to act like the same mom,

While inside, she was ready to give you up,

She would never let go of her cellular device,

Being paranoid, being cautious,

Sneaking strange phone calls,

I know you loved her so much,

A blind love which wasn't healthy at all,

And of this, she knew all along,

There's nothing more horrible than manipulating love,

The days after she left were a big blur,

I can't remember if you actually got to cope,

I think I'm going to stop right here,

I don't want to add anything on if I'm not too sure,

For such an important event,

My memory sure is refusing to cooperate,

Maybe as I age, I will go insane,

Until then, I promise you I will try to give you only my best.

             I'm here for you now since I wasn't then,

                              A forgetful Elizabeth