

Letter I — A Psalm Without Refuge
There is no room for me to run to,
no quiet corner to hide my sorrow.
The walls that once held me
are gone.
I have searched for refuge—
sat in stillness,
waited in silence—
but no shelter formed around me.
Even the places I flee to
do not keep me.
A father without love,
a voice that said
you are not enough.
To him, I am nameless—
a body for his ending,
not a soul he ever held.
What is a father
who does not soften?
What is a voice
that does not bless?
Where do I go to weep?
I swallow my tears like prayers
I’m afraid to speak,
hoping—quietly—
there is still a shoulder
meant for me.
Still…
You see them.
You hear the cries
I do not speak.
If there is a place for me,
lead me to it.
If there is a refuge,
let it be found in You.
And if there is a shoulder
meant to hold me—
let me not pass it by.
~~~~Authors note~~~~
I wrote this back when I lived with my father. We were about to move out and he came to talk to me in my room. He told me to my face the I wasn’t enough for him to change. That I wasn’t enough to try. I wasn’t surprised by that in a sense. The fact he said it out loud was what really hurt. So I wrote a poem about some of my feelings. How it felt to live with him up till now.
