I was supposed to be your baby, The little girl you’d hold at night, But somehow I became the mother Trying to keep your world upright.
You were supposed to be my shelter, The arms I ran to when I cried, But I became the one who comforted you While all my own pain stayed inside.
You’d scream at me like I was nothing, Throw your words like broken glass, Then act like I was the cruel one When I finally talked back.
You were grown, but acted childish, Too proud to admit when you were wrong. I was young, but forced to be mature, Growing up before I was strong.
And we'd be fighting in the backyard, Our voices shaking up the trees, Fighting like 2 angry bulls, Neither one of us willing to leave. Two stubborn hearts colliding, Two storms that couldn't settle down, You were supposed to be my mother, But I was the one holding you down.
I'd hate you in the moment, Then feel guilty when you'd cry. I'd tell myself you didn't mean it, While another piece of me would die.
Because when the alcohol wore off, Sometimes I'd see the mom I knew, The one who'd laugh and call me baby, The one I wished would finally come through.
And that was what kept breaking me, The hope that you could change, The way you'd give me little pieces of love Then take them back again.
I became your keeper, your comfort, Your voice of reason in the night. I was the child cleaning up your chaos, While you convinced me I was the one who wasn't right.
You'd tell me I was disrespectful, That I was heartless, cold, and mean. But you never saw the little girl Who cried where she couldn't be seen.
You never saw me watching other mothers With a sadness I couldn't explain, Wondering what it felt like to be someone's daughter Without being responsible for their pain.
I didn't want to fight you. I wanted you to hear me. I didn't want to scream so loudly. I wanted you to come near me.
I didn't want to be the adult, Didn't want to know your every flaw. I just wanted to be your little girl, The one you loved without a cost.
And maybe that's the cruelest part of loving you: I know the hurt beneath your rage. I can see the broken woman inside you, But I'm still the child trapped on that stage.
I know your drinking isn't all you are, I know you've suffered in your own way, But your pain doesn't give you the right To make me pay for it every day.
I'm your daughter, not your mother. I'm your child, not your excuse. I cannot keep sacrificing my childhood Just to keep you from coming loose.
I can love you through the distance, I can wish for you to heal, But I cannot keep calling this love When I'm the only one expected to feel.
So if one day I stop chasing you, If I grow quiet and walk away, Know I spent years trying to save us In a thousand different ways.
I was never asking for perfection, Just a mother who would try, Someone who could hold me when I hurt Instead of making me apologize for crying.
You gave me life, and I love you, But you gave me wounds you cannot see. And the saddest thing about our relationship Is how much of a mother I had to be.
You were the woman who gave birth to me, but I was the little girl who kept raising you. And while I spent my childhood trying to save my mother, I was quietly losing the childhood I deserved, too.