What I want to tell my inner child

You are safe now I’m here.
Muscles grown, back straight, fists ready.
No one will harm you.

I know it hurts, still
how you were not seen, not allowed to be.
But I see you. I see you.

Don’t worry about me.
I’ve been hardened by empty days
alone in an attic room
in a house without a mother
under a blanket of grief.

I know it feels like no one loves you
but I’m here. I see you.
I see you.

(c) Leen Raats

This poem was published in WriteNowLit, an online literary publication based in Nigeria.