Today’s anonymous piece is a powerful poem with words that will surely resonate strongly with most COA’s. If you feel impacted as a COA then remember that Nacoa can offer help and support. If you want to share something as someone affected by a parents drinking then please get in touch.

You carried me inside you,
9 long months until we met.
The first I saw, the first I loved,
From that point on our path was set.

Tough and strong is the bond
For mothers-daughters all.
Despite our faults and mistakes,
Still deeper did we fall.

Hold my hand,
Wipe my tears,
Sing me off to sleep.
Nice to have,
Sweet and all,
But what’s missing made me weep.

To listen, to believe and trust me,
This is how to know me.
Judge me by my words and actions,
Not what others think they see.

You gave me life, I gave you mine,
Came running when you called.
Gave support and advised,
Yet still you wanted more.

Time and time again I vowed
Our roles no more would be reversed.
My hopes and dreams put on hold,
You needed me, and you come first.

I scream, I beg, I shout out loud,
I laugh, I joke, I cry.
I shake, I talk, I write to you,
Yet still you ask me why?

I have to ask, is your deafness
Ignorance or fear?
Can you not hear me or is it just that
Change is never near?

The past has been forgiven
So many times before.
But now I’m at the point in life
Where I must say “no more”.

How much longer must this go on?
Holding out for love that will never come.
The child inside still craves approval,
Failing that, complete removal.

Stuck in this viscious cycle
Of love & pain repeated.
I pray to God this one last chance
You do not take for granted.

There is still time, for you & I
To fix what has gone wrong.
Let’s focus on the time we have,
This has gone on too long.

I have no more to give to you,
My well it has run dry.
Despite all this, I still love you,
I do not wish to say goodbye.