Glass Child

A poem inspired by my beautiful friends who all relate to being a child made of glass.

Because you were a glass child

Did your sister come first? 

Do you sit across from a therapist with a pen on her chin

Saying “tell me about your parents.” 

asking you if 

You ever felt transparent 

You look in the mirror 

And the girl looking back seems to look right past you 

Did your brother have problems? 

Ones your parents couldn’t solve 

Dr. visits and explanations for 

Erratics behavior 

And when he hurts you 

Do they ask “what did you do?” 

Running for miles on end 

Around the neighborhood 

You’re stuck between wanting to be 

bad 

And everyone needing you to be 

good 

Did you feel a bit behind? 

When you didn’t get a perfect score 

Does your therapist ask you why it took you so long to get on medication 

Did you say there were always

complications

Did you feel like your house was a

fortress 

you couldn’t escape from 

encased in brass

Because you were a child made of glass

So you packed your bags one morning 

And everyone now says

“well done”

When you come home for Christmas 

It’s impressive they say 

To go over there all alone 

To succeed with no help 

And you want to feel proud 

But all you feel is 

Mad 

Of course you did it on your own 

From the second you were born 

That’s were you were thrown 

But now you’ve escaped and 

grown up a bit later then expected 

redoing adolescence at 22 

Learning all the things everyone else learned

while you were studying and staying 

Quiet 

Just like they wanted you to do 

So here you are 

Experiencing what everyone else experienced

before 

But now your 24 

And even with parties 

And friends 

Sex 

Some drugs 

And cigarettes 

You still feel the smoke floating right

through you 

Because no matter how much you grow 

Up 

No matter often you run

no matter how 

Fast 

Your still a child made of glass