Reflections of a Broken Mirror

In shadows deep, where childhood fears reside, A father's wrath, a son's tormented life, A torrent of abuse, a soul's despair, A question lingers, heavy in the putrid air. "Why was I not enough, my father's pride, Why did your love, like fragile glass, subside?" I searched within, for flaws and faults unseen, A defective ugly child, unworthy of your esteem. The echo of your wrath, like a thunderous roar, Your fists, the lightning's strike, leaving me bloodied and torn, A distorted reflection in the broken mirror of your rage, A son's plea echoing in the void, seeking peace in a Biblical sage. Each glancing blow, a cruel reminder of a love that took flight, A question murmured in the still of the night, a son's plea echoing silently, The stars, like a voiceless jury, bore witness to my endless fragility, Their sparkling diamonds reflected the blackened tears that blurred my tranquility. Against the wall, against the floor, I fell, In a proverbial coffin of terror, a living hell. Personified despair, my desperate plea, But love remained elusive, never free or for me. How could I have been different, I pondered with sickening despair, Would a change in my essence have lightened the burden you bear? Your hands, never a source of comfort, became instruments of fear, Their touch, a chilling reminder of a love that disappeared. In Dante’s theater of death, a tragic play, Each act unfolds in shades of disarray. Anaphora echoes through the years, "Why, Father, did I provoke your ravaged fears?" In the end, it was the silence that echoed the loudest, Your life, extinguished by a disease most foul and foulest. Yet, in the quiet of your passing, no answers were bestowed, Only the lingering question, a heavy, burdensome load. Up from past’s charred remains, resilience took flight, like a phoenix reborn, A new father to three daughters, under God's watchful eyes. From your dark shadows, I emerged, stronger and wiser, A testament to resilience, a survivor, a Christian riser. In the end, I found the answer, not in your silence, but in their laughter, In the love I offer and receive, now and ever, and ever after. For I am not the echo of your blind rage, but the product of my Godly choice, In their smiles, I find my truth, my answer, in their love, I found my voice. As another teardrop falls, a trauma survivor finds calmness just for today, hereafter. Shadows deep, fears hide, Broken mirror reflects pride Love’s absence, pain guides.