Most times I can almost forget you
even when I look in the mirror

The sharpness of my features
that once marked me as one of yours
no longer call you to mind

I once thought your memory inescapable
that you would loom over me forevermore
demanding that I be of use to you
since that is all the unwanted are good for

I have learned that we never truly escape
our origins are the foundation we build upon
and we must work with what we are given

You taught me to Fear failure and imperfection
knowing that I had been born imperfect

You shaped me using promises of affection
that were broken before they were uttered
giving rise to my own guilt and insecurity

You wanted me to be weak beneath your heel
desperate and longing for the impossible
and I should at least thank you for that...
for giving me something to push my way past

The world shaped me while I was malleable
into something that would survive
a thing you could not begin to recognize

I have grown beyond what you saw as a tool
I have become more than you ever imagined

I clawed my way from irrelevance
through Despair and shattered preconceptions
and the broken corpse of the girl I used to be

I thought a child's love absolute
until the day I felt it snap like a tether
I thought the hate would burn forever
until I felt the fire grow cold in my chest

You taught me the taste of Fear
and I have built myself upon its bones
I no longer need or want your attention

I will never think of you again after this
So, farewell, and sink into irrelevance.

Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 1st of Dharos, in the year 17 AC.