The Beauty in the Beast

children

my mother wasn't a fan of kids

so she trained my brothers

and I

to act like adults

for fear of physical punishment

she didn't understand what 

it meant for her

to hit us until we bruised 

and then turn around and

tell us she loved us

to make us feel so alone

in the world

only for her to tell us

'you're being immature'

we had to be adults as kids

so now that she's gone

we are kids as adults

because we never got the time

we needed

to simply live