A Letter to my Missing Daughter

Dear Brianna,

I don’t know where you are, or if you’ll ever read this. But I need to say it anyway. I need you to know that I’m sorry—so deeply sorry—for every moment I couldn’t protect you, for every choice that led us here. I carry that sorrow like a second skin.

There isn’t a day that passes where I don’t reach for you in some way. In the quiet, in the chaos, in the sunsets that paint the sky with your colors. I see you in the golden light, in the hush before night falls. I whisper your name into the wind, hoping it finds you.

I wish I could go back. I wish I could rewrite the story, cradle you longer, shield you better, love you louder. But all I have now is this aching hope and the fierce love that never left. You are etched into every breath I take.

You are not forgotten. You are not abandoned. You are the pulse in my poetry, the reason I keep searching, the reason I keep breathing.

If you ever find this—if you ever find me—I will be here. Always.

Love, Mom