[Verse 1]
Little minds watch how the world unfolds
Through the eyes of those who hold them close
When mama's future starts to fade away
The child learns tomorrow's not a safe place to stay
Bowlby saw the pattern clear and true
Attachment shapes the worldview that we grew
Mental models built on what we see
Determines who we're gonna be
[Chorus]
Lost futures, stolen time
When the parent's pain becomes the child's design
Four authors, four ways to see
How trauma steals our destiny
Bowlby, Miller, Crittenden too
Walker shows us what survivors do
The gifted child reads every need
But loses their own future's seed
[Verse 2]
Miller's gifted child is smart indeed
At reading what the broken parent needs
Suppressing self to serve another's now
Trading their tomorrow for the here and how
Temporal labor, emotional cost
The child's own path forever lost
Attuned to suffering, tuned out from dreams
Nothing is quite what it seems
[Chorus]
Lost futures, stolen time
When the parent's pain becomes the child's design
Four authors, four ways to see
How trauma steals our destiny
Bowlby, Miller, Crittenden too
Walker shows us what survivors do
The gifted child reads every need
But loses their own future's seed
[Verse 3]
Crittenden's model shows the strategic mind
Hypervigilant, compulsively kind
False cheerfulness to manage their state
While the child's development has to wait
Dynamic patterns, adaptations formed
To weather every emotional storm
Each strategy a temporal trade
Present safety for future's fade
[Bridge]
Walker names the four F's we know
Fight and flight still help us grow
But freeze and fawn collapse the time
Make us live in others' paradigm
From surviving to thriving is the goal
But first we must reclaim our soul
The future's ours to build anew
When we break through what trauma grew
[Chorus]
Lost futures, stolen time
When the parent's pain becomes the child's design
Four authors, four ways to see
How trauma steals our destiny
Bowlby, Miller, Crittenden too
Walker shows us what survivors do
The gifted child reads every need
But loses their own future's seed
[Outro]
Internal working models can change
The future's not beyond our range
Though childhood taught us to live in fear
Tomorrow's hope is drawing near