Semicolon

It seemed I could never run fast enough
To climb that roof you loved to fly from
I wish my Twinkle Toes could have hoisted me up higher
From the rusted gate on the side door
But my small hands slipped
On those broken shingles above

The danger I posed to myself—
An afterthought—
Because to live life without you, that I could not do
Sadly our love remained nothing more than a phantom limb
As we edged that roof together

Both of us wanted to be down below
I to continue to live a life I had barely begun
You to free fall into paranoia

I don’t remember just what I said for you to not jump
Maybe that I long to tell you how beautiful you are
Because you are
Beautiful
Maybe that I miss our catches to the sky once adorned
Or simply maybe that you taught me what love meant
When you gave pastels to my muted gardens
And through my words, I stopped gravity

In more ways than one, I’ve raised you
Because the child in me, I was just a child,
Quickly learned that to love an addict is to mourn over the death of the parent you knew
A faultless fault yet still mine

I’ll always be your parachute
But Mom, please don’t make me be