Survivors Poetry

I could not love your heart of stone.

I thought I could turn you into a benevolent king,

Re-write you

Into a merciful law.

I spat blood working my way up

Up up to your scornful mouth

And into your unwelcoming arms.

A stern complaining Zeus,

A master, trainer of the circus.

"You jumped well, but don't relax".

Hold it till I say "enough".

A harmless little kitten with no claws

You poked me like a tiger

Into your hoops of fire.

You could not love my imperfection.

My tender soul to you

Was an ugly wound.


Such I remember you.

Unbending, drunken with your height

Next to this knee-high, wide-eyed thing.

Breathing fire, then frost.

A roller coaster of frightful might, guilt and the

Reluctant absolution, the

Desert of your distance.

I could not love the unloving god.

My heart bleeds for the one I never had. My dad.

I do not know you. I never have.

I am a woman you'll never understand.

I am a woman and you are just one man.

Poem by Raffaella