13 July 2026
*** Trigger Warning ***
This lyric is written from the perspective of a fictional narrator shaped by an inherited cycle of harm. It is not an autobiography; it is an exploration of how learned patterns can feel like destiny even when they are not.
The Calling
Mom, let's buy a new home
One without stairs
I no longer want you
To fall again
Let's grab a train
And find a safe place
For us to live
In a home where dads
Hug and hold
Hands of terror back
Mom ....
I see the bloodline
Slowly infecting me
I find it hard
Not to answer my calling
When I am forced to watch
It's why I no longer try
To look away
From you falling
And how you live a lie
I am falling
With no soft landing
Rising up
Into my calling
You always taught me
To push through
My calling
Yet I ended up here
A soul tainted
To help women like you
Love is falling
With no soft landing
Rising up
Into my calling
Mom
Can you see me
On high
Brought low
I married again today
And I am all ready
Pushing her away
As my father's calling
Is all mine
I made sure
We bought a home
With stairs
To all the women
Climbing the risers to heaven
Those who of the calling
Helped on your way
This is me smiling
On my knees praying again
At the top of the stairs
That she will be alright
One more time
And remembers to lie
She is falling
With no soft landing
Rising up
And up up up
God never answers
As he knows
A good woman
Is now walking up his stairs
From
My calling
Hello son ...
Your mother fell again
And won't be coming back
Like you
I could not look away
Yes .. I agree
It's hard on us who have
The calling
2026 John Osinga. All rights reserved. St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.
Research Notes — for "The Calling"
Boys who witness intimate partner violence in childhood carry “elevated risk” of perpetrating this as adults. But research also shows more than half of exposed children still adapt well — resilience, not fate, is the more common outcome.
Sources:
1. The Detrimental Family Legacy of Intergenerational Abuse — Domestic Violence Services Network (DVSN)
https://www.dvsn.org/intergenerational-abuse/
2. The Cycle of Child Abuse: Why It Happens and How to Break It — Childhelp
https://childhelp.org/the-cycle-of-child-abuse-why-it-happens-and-how-to-break-it/
John Osinga
A note from the lyricist
Dark Folk Narrative wrapped in a Gothic Americana — Melancholic * Intense — This lyric is written from the perspective of a fictional narrator shaped by an inherited cycle of harm. It is not an autobiography; it is an exploration of how learned patterns can feel like destiny even when they are not.
