Banshee

Dear Banshee,

Why won't you cry?

I hear you weep and you wail

But only, only from the inside

You survived horror and crime

But you won't let yourself cry

A wake of dark destruction is your gift

To anyone noticing that anything is amiss

Dearest Banshee, all I wanted was your love

From the moment you cradled me

Held me in your arms as your baby

Dear Banshee, I see your pain

There is only so far you can run

Run, run, run away

Please Dearest Banshee,

Let the rain pour down someday

Let it release you from your prison, your cage

You're desperate for healing,

But close the door on your pain

Let the rain pour down

Stop asking it to come another day

I don't want to leave but I see no other way

So I grieve the loss of you Banshee

The person you could have been

I close the door on this suffering

So I can live to fight again

We are in this losing battle

I let you blame me for your mistakes

I let you hurt me because I couldn't stand on my own

I took the fall for all of you

I thought it was what I was supposed to do

Dear Banshee, I'm sorry

I'm sorry you became this dark force

I'm sorry you won't learn to love

I'm sorry the important ones in your life

neglected you and hurt you, just like me

But Banshee, oh Banshee,

It was your responsibility

To break the patterns of the past

Banshee, oh Banshee,

You broke your daughter and taught her

Not to be angry

Banshee, oh Banshee

I love you, but leave me be

Reviews

[LostSage]

long ago I went into chat rooms
my screen name was
MoonBanshee
most people thought it was cool
until the girls in Australia told me
Banshee is a female spirit
they scream in the night
so I had to change my name
unrelated thought

[StormeLight]

Haha! That made me giggle XD thank you for sharing =)

[khushi_tripa05]

amazing!!! your work is just too good

[StormeLight]

Well thank you very much!!

[John the Baptist]

In Irish legend, a banshee was a wailing spirit that appeared at the home of someone who would die soon. The subject of this poem may not be near physical death but is certainly in a dark space spiritually. The speaker is apparently a daughter who is being devastated by what is occurring. She is apparently leaving the family home, unable to bear the self destructiveness any longer. There is no condemnation in her words, just the desire to survive. I may be wrong, but I feel the banshee is her father and his problem is alcoholism.

[StormeLight]

Oh wow that is very interesting! I love learning about Irish legends, thank you for sharing! This poem is about the relationship between my mother and I. We took two different roads when faced with trauma, she chose to run from the pain, and as a result, her pain became so monstrous, that she hurt her own daughter as a result. She wants to be different, but she's been sweeping the pain under the rug to fester for too long now. So she has become this wailing banshee that breathes destruction when she tries to express love, it turns into control, obsession, and manipulation. She doesn't know what she has become, she only is what she is now and because of that, her nature does not change even when she wills herself to be different. She is still running from her pain, and will always be a banshee, until she stops running from it. She can't change her nature, until she faces the very thing that turned her into the screaming banshee.