Poetry by Kat

My Mum

I used to hate, as a child, when my mum would send me upstairs and tucked me into bed, singing me to sleep. I didn't want to sleep, I wanted to play and I wasn't a baby anymore!

And I used to hate when she would make a meal for tea. One that I didn't even like. I bet I could make all my own big girl meals!

I used to get so mad when she would make me clean up my 'toys' they weren't toys. They were soldiers in my army!

I didn't like how she brushed my hair, she always pulled too hard on the tangles. Sometimes I wish she'd just let me do it by myself like a big girl!

I didn't like when she set out an outfit for me to wear I wanted to choose my own. I'm grown up now, I don't need to wear baby clothes!

I hated when she held my hand while we walked. I'm a big girl I didn't need her to be my chaperone. Big girls walk home all alone anyway!

But now, as I lay in the dark crying myself to sleep over a boy who I mean nothing to, I wish she would tuck me in and sing me a lullaby.

And as I debate whether I should even eat today or not, I wish I could smell her cooking wafting in from the kitchen.

As I stare at my bedroom that hasn't been cleaned for months, I wish she would make me clean up.

As I breakdown in the mirror struggling to fix my messy hair, I wish she would comb it out and make it pretty.

And as I take two hours going back and forth between outfits, I wish she would choose for me like she used to.

And as I walk home all by myself from school, weird old men staring as I go by, I wish she was beside me, holding my hand all the way home.

I wish I could go back to my little princess bed, have her tuck me in and sing me to sleep one more time. I wish I could be her baby again, I miss it. And, I wish I wasn't a 'big girl' anymore.