Based on Torey Hayden's The Tiger's Child

Harmless once were my claws

So were my unkempt paws

Heeding this dark jungle's laws

And loathing all my flaws

Watching and waiting

And pleading to the skies

Voices berating

In my head were ringing lies

I stood there, a loner

Hoping and praying, another chance would arise

Abandonment taught me to be streetwise

After the severing of all our family ties

The art of acquiring the feet of a meanderer

Being lost and found, an aimless wanderer

Then along came a stranger

Whose words unlike I was taught

Never ever spelt danger

Instead feelings of warmth they brought

I've got the stripes on my body and welts in my heart

Gouges in my soul that may never depart

A roar that was suppressed, almost to a faint purr

Tried to do the same to the pain, turn it into a blur

It kept thrumming and writhing beneath my skin

Reminding me of the stain I thought I'd once been

Cast off like a burden, thrown out like a rag

A weight forced upon, one had been forced to drag

No longer a weight, a stone making one sink

Said stranger taught me a different way to think

The teacher turned best friend and precious mother

Unlike any other

We were torn apart and you wondered how

I could forget about us

And turn away from you now

Our laughs, our games

It was never the same

Your hugs, your time

I gave you all the love

And all I thought was hers

Tantrums and thoughts and letters

To help myself get better

Now I think I can accept, forgive but letting go

What it means, I don't know

° ° °

It will take time, but I shall let go

These scars are not my sentence, no

I can rise from every crouch, no matter how low

Thank you for teaching me that true love, I can know

Note:
The Tiger's Child is a very endearing true story about the gifted Sheila Renstad and Torey Hayden, her special education teacher. Sheila had a very difficult childhood: her mother had her at a young age, and well, Sheila was treated very badly. Rejection, among other things scarred Sheila unimaginably. When she meets Torey, things change as the two of them form a deep bond. A true fighter, she was called the Tiger's Child, because of a particular children's story she loved reading(I can't remember the title, unfortunately). In the last line, the true love I'm primarily referring to is the love between her and Torey. For a few years they were separated, then they were reunited, during which reconnecting wasn't exactly easy for either of them. According to Torey, Sheila is an independent woman now, and I do pray she discovered other kinds of true love: not just the romantic, but the love of friends turned siblings :), the love of writing included(there was even a poem she wrote in the book, she'd already discovered her love for reading), loves that transcend time and distance. I believe she has. Oh, also, from the pictures... Yes, she has blond hair.

Thank you very much for reading!
Do have a great day. :))