Only Child
Sarah Beth Kolbasowski
[Sarahbk@eden.rutgers.edu]
I feel like
I have never had
a brother
or a sister;
Mother never had
a swelled stomach;
mercy never had
pity on me.
Like we never played
on sandy swings
or cried through the night
or grew our wings
together.
Those two, they
are a team
winning the family
relay race
and I sit on the bottom,
splintering bleacher
pretending that they
might think of me.
Only lonely falling time;
children of a ghost
forget each other.
Mother must not see
hatred here.
I will be passive
by myself
and be an actress,
for Mother must not see
they have both
forgotten me.
© 1998 Sarah B. Kolbasowski, all rights reserved
appears here by permission
This poem, I feel is self-explanatory. It should be noted that the father in this poem passed
away when the speaker was at an early age.
|