Your notice in the paper read
"Best mum in the world"
Adored mother of five children,
three boys and two girls ~
But how the truth is twisted
and forgotten amongst the lies
While your halo shines much brighter
now within your family's eyes.

Forgotten are the memories
and your life of disrepair
Your selfish need to abuse your rights
of parental care ~
And the times you shouted threats
when things didn't go your way
You dangled vows of promises
then you snatched them away.

The scars of your parenting
they still linger on
And are seen in the aftermath
of five lives gone wrong ~
The psychological affects
of your disrespect and hate
Are mirrored in your children's lives
in the hope it's not too late.

Such a squalid lifestyle
you lived in disrepair
Amongst the filth of excrement
and syringes laying there ~
With few beds for the children
that they shared together
And a little one that lay beneath
an old board that was weathered.

Old shoes that were now too small
were blistering their feet
And just three dollars between them
to buy their lunch to eat ~
They had no personal hygiene
of which they were unaware
This life they were accustomed to
was too sad beyond compare.

Five dogs lived within the house
amidst the rotten smell
While you drifted into your own
private world of hell ~
Slashing your wrists and popping pills
as your children just looked on
They washed your face and cleaned you up
everytime something went wrong.

They had no time to be kids
to live the way they should
Playing with those their own age
and enjoying their childhood ~
Instead they had to be alert
in taking care of you
But you were supposed to be their mother;
what the hell was wrong with you!

So you were finally reported
and your kids taken away
Filled with such anger and hate
you had nothing left to say ~
Though you appealed the Court's decision
they were placed in foster care
While the damage you have inflicted;
can it ever be repaired?

So now your life has ended
though the damage will remain
Of all you have done to those kids
who have just seen too much pain ~
They have grown up with your anger
your selfishness and hate
Without feeling secure love
this would have been their fate.

Even though the notice read
"best mum in the world"
The evidence of the life you led
was something else, my girl ~
The life you gave those children
in the squalor that you shared
Such sadness and such heartbreak
could never be compared.

© Christina
3rd May, 2001

"This poem is about the horrible squalor some children we knew lived in. It is heartbreaking and sad. These children knew no other life, except the squalid conditions their mother subjected them to while she went about her own life of popping pills and slashing her wrists....many times the children having to clean her up. The children were eventually taken into welfare, and she died after taking too many pills one last time."