Broken Parents Raise Broken Kids

Broken fathers raise broken children,
Broken children do not play with toys,
Broken children do not watch Shin Chan,
Broken children do not like school,
Broken children do not sleep on time,
Broken children skip meals,
Broken children do not have friends,
Broken children are just – broken,
Even though they do not want to be.

Broken children play with knives,
Broken children watch their parents fight,
Broken children like abandoned roads,
Broken children stare into an abyss,
Broken children throw up–
when nobody is watching,
Broken children have ghosts under the bed,
Broken children like to be – broken,
Even though they do not want to.

Broken children become broken adults,
Broken adults become broken parents,
Broken parents hate each other,
Broken parents want to separate,
Broken parents scream at each other,
Broken parents break doors,
Broken parents punch into walls,
Broken parents build a house,
But never make it home.

Broken parents raise broken children,
Broken children try to fix–
Fix their parents marriage,
And fail it.
Broken children blame themselves,
For their parents broken marriage.
Broken children love their parents,
But hate to be around them.

Broken parents raise broken children,
And,
Broken children raise more broken children,
Until,
One broken child decides to break the cycle,
And fix themselves,
Which more often than not,
Does not happen.

Chilaikalaan was born and raised in Srinagar and is currently based in Bangalore.

Featured image: Pawel Czerwinski / Unsplash