Parents... Poem by Melissa Cook

Hush little baby, don't you cry....

Mama's genna stay here through the night...



Hold me tight

Tell me it'll be alright

Keep me safe, keep me warm

Keep away the harm

Isn't that the kind of things parents are supposed to do?

Those are parents I never knew



You still claim us to be your kids

Or is that just another of your fibs?

It's hard to believe I've been decived

By the people who gave birth to me



If there's anything I've learned

It's that 'parents' isn't a name you've earned



Mother can you hear my screams?

Or were you not listening?

Dear daddy do you even think about your sons or daughter?

Or have you abandoned the name 'father'



Parents are what you're supposed to be

Though that's a side we'll never see...



They say that it's good to forgive and forget

But how can I forgive when you hold no regret?

You pay no attention to the lives you've destroyed

Sitting back, while we're being toyed



Another woman has raised us instead of you

She kept us safe, like you were supposed to do

We're not the same as we were when you left

Maybe because our childhood was taken by a theft



Mother can you hear my screams?

Or were you not listening?

Dear daddy do you even think about your sons or daughter?

Or have you abandoned the name 'father'



It's been years since we've seen you

An apology is long overdue

Though it's one we know we'll never get

So why do we waste the time getting upset?



I'm not sure why I'm writing this, words you'll never hear

Though I have to wonder, would you be better if we were to disappear?

Maybe one day we'll make amends

Though that's a word you can't comprehend



June 19th,1988

September 4th,1990

November 27th,1994

Do you remember?



What would you do if you knew you had a grandson on the way?

What would you say if you knew your daughter was gay?

And what would you think of us today?

Times have changed, and we don't look the same

We've grown older, and don't know what was true and what was a game



But if anything is true...

It's that we won't end up like you...



Mother will you listen?

Father do you care?

It's your sons and it's your daughter

Telling you that we're still here...