MISGUIDED WORDS

A sad poem of a daughter realizing everything she was once taught is a lie

She taught me the wrong names for things.

She fed me honey laced with hush,
said the bitterness meant it was pure.
Smiled like dusk
long, low, and coming for everything.

The house was full of locked doors,
She swore I had the keys to.
But every handle turned to ash
When I touched it.

She named silence “obedience,”
named fear “love,”
named me “hers.”

My mouth was not my own
just a room she kept forgetting to clean.

When I cried,
She said it was raining,
And I believed her
even when the thunder came from her hands.

Now every kindness hides a hook.
Every voice might wear her mask.

People ask me why I don’t trust anyone.
I say nothing.
I’ve forgotten the word for “safe.”

and somewhere,
her laughter
still drips through the walls.