<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There I was,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
held in your arms,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
so vulnerable,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and innocent,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and raw,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and you said you\u2019d love me<\/p>\n\n\n\n
no matter what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was your angel,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
your star,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
your treasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You were my guardian,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my creator,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my protector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was a baby still<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the womb,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
postpartum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And although<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sometimes I acted cruel,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
you still cherished me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
as though I were your jewel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They say<\/p>\n\n\n\n
parental love<\/p>\n\n\n\n
is pure and infinite,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
something not even<\/p>\n\n\n\n
divinity can split.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I believed that as true;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
even our arguments<\/p>\n\n\n\n
never compromised<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that one diamond promise,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that one golden rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You told me<\/p>\n\n\n\n
our love was forever\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
it didn\u2019t come with a warranty;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that the cosmos<\/p>\n\n\n\n
would keep us together,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and that was the only guarantee<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in this wretched world,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in this lonesome life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You convinced me that<\/p>\n\n\n\n
you would protect and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
love me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
perpetually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I believed you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All those lullabies<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and bath-times<\/p>\n\n\n\n
put me under your spell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your words were my only<\/p>\n\n\n\n
truth, and they<\/p>\n\n\n\n
circled around me<\/p>\n\n\n\n
like a never-ending<\/p>\n\n\n\n
carousel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was on that ride for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I acted tame,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
fragile,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
obedient,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
perfect,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
polite,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
grateful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was your favorite,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
you said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it only took<\/p>\n\n\n\n
my fragility to turn me broken<\/p>\n\n\n\n
for you to replace me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and choose her as your favorite,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This poem details the \u201cfine print\u201d of a parental relationship that I never got to read until it was too late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":2194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-arts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2193"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2210,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193\/revisions\/2210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blueandread.asbarcelona.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}