Dad, my brothers, Nana, and I
Gather around my eighteenth birthday cake.
They sing, "Happy birthday, Daisy."
I smile for the picture they will take.
.
This is a happy memory
I should keep forever.
But there is anger underneath
That leaves my heart much heavier.
.
Birthday cakes were once all pink,
Covered in princesses and bows.
Barbie dolls and fairy tales,
The kind each little girl knows.
.
Candles glowed upon the frosting.
Everyone smiled and sang.
Nobody noticed what hid beneath,
Or heard the silence hang.
.
The frosting slowly melted.
A little hole appeared.
Black jelly rose beneath the pink—
Just as I had feared.
.
It swayed from side to side,
Like something still alive.
Holding years of hidden truths
No child should survive.
.
Dream Houses aren't always happy.
Life isn't glitter and lace.
Sometimes the prettiest birthday cake
Can hide the darkest place.
.
My princess castle cracked apart.
Its walls grew old and thin.
Mother hated everything
that let the light come in.
.
The little girl disappeared.
Today I turn eighteen.
Now I see the woman hiding
Behind the painted scene.
.
She dressed herself in pink tutus,
Soft ribbons and pretend.
But every fairy tale she told
Always seemed to end.
.
She still talks across the room,
Lost inside her mind.
Speaking of strange magnetism,
Leaving all of us behind.
.
Not everything was beautiful.
Not every memory was kind.
She left wounds upon her children
that time could never hide.
.
The greatest debt she left behind
was never money owed.
It was the birthday cake she watched
Turn from pink...
To gray...
To blackened mold.