The Child Inside Me

The Child Inside Me

Even now,

I hear the small girl inside me,

the one who once opened her hands

to him without hesitation.

She trembles,

she hopes,

she longs for a father

who never arrived.

I want to tell her:

You are enough.

You always were.

And you will survive this again.

But even saying it aloud

feels like betrayal,

because she still wants him.