Am I the problem?

Yes and no.

Am I the one who caused this mess?

Am I the one who caused unrest?

Is it my conscience stained with blame?

For being the child you couldn’t tame?

Does my anger cause you such fright?

Even faced with your supposed “might”?

Am I the terror, the one with bite?

When it wasn’t I who made the first strike.

Don’t shame my anger, blame my fury,

It wasn’t I who chose my story,

It was you all, dictating to me,

Yet somehow, fault always lies with me,

You caught me when I was the weakest,

To cage me, break me, mince to pieces,

What was left of that little girl,

Now locked away from all the world,

But times have changed, that girl is dead,

And from my rage, vengeance has bled,

I’m like a snake whose skin has shed…

But deep inside, just wants to rest.

But no, not here, I’m never safe,

At night, I struggle, lie awake,

I heave, I push, through every day,

Each one step closer to the grave.

And loneliness, aches in my chest,

A caged bird waiting to be blessed,

The agony, seeps into me…

Crushing, it’s slowly killing me…

I’m tired of waiting, tired of fighting,

Tired of waiting to be thriving,

Of facing battles I didn’t cause,

Standing on legs numb with loss,

So, don’t blame me, for my reaction,

Blame yourself for your own actions,

For your incompetent failures have led me here,

I’ll fight them to the death, I fear.

Am I the problem?

Yes and no.

My faults are mine,

Of that, I know,

But this burden,

Is NOT my own,

I’m only here…

Because you said so.

Hey, there, gorgeous. How are you doing?

This is ANOTHER poetry piece, on child abuse and its detrimental effects on us. The way it scars and brands children, the isolation that comes with being constantly misunderstood, belittled and then demonised for your reactions to circumstances that were always completely out of your control. All you did was be born into toxicity. Your only crime was your reaction. You were NEVER the problem, my sweet friend. ❤️‍🩹

Some people just shouldn’t raise kids. It’s not for everyone.

(And yes, I can personally relate to everything I just wrote!)

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© Zia Barti, 2026. All rights reserved.

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