Child of Drug Addicts
We were warned never to share “our business” with anybody
Especially the social workers, nurses or school teachers.
They were the enemy and would “take us away”.
Our terror was the idea of what strangers could do to us.
At least our mother was always sorry later.
She loved us, right? We knew not to touch her stash.
It was important to not get in her way when she was angry too.
She brought lots of new daddies home.
They were of various shapes and sizes.
Some of them brought alcohol, this made her happy.
Once in a while they would bring the stuff that went up her nose.
This made her happier, until she came crashing down.
One thing for certain, most of these daddies did not want us around.
We could get locked out for hours while they were there.
We knew to never expect anything good out of them.
One or two pretended to like us, but we knew better.
Every once in a while we would get one who would bring food.
This made us happy, but it would not last usually.
Knowing this, we hid food away, for later.
Sometimes there would be dancing and laughter.
These were the good days.
As long as we kept quiet
And kept our “business” to ourselves
things would be okay. Bruises and welts heal.
As long as we are not taken away, things will be okay.
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