o-mother-daughter-relationship-facebookIf I had been your mother and you my daughter
we would have learned to walk both straight and crooked
together stronger for leaning upon one another
in this motion, undoing that well rehearsed need
common among our ilk
to walk alone
learning this when those who should protect
absented or let down, spilling trust
repeating patterns before we knew how to protest
formed inside faulty mold
given no improvement or nourishment for fledgling soul
we split apart like neglected corn
ears green and burned by indifferent sun
we sought the succor of dangerous people
familiar with their welt
hid the tender shoots of us within a grave
absenting gentleness
despising love’s solace
sharpening and hardening our calloused parts
we did not recognize in each other
the need overarching stubbornness
revealed at last
when day is lower in webbed sky than it ought
but better now than never at all
we break the spell we unwind the curse
If you were my daughter and I your mother
I would have given you wisdom
found in my search to banish self-immolation
growing like a vine within our generations
disappearing women from each others tenderness
enemies from birth
I would have rolled back our wounds and discovered
the beauty of love as it lies undisturbed
on the surface of a child’s face
who trusts before she learns to ache
If I had been your mother and you my child
between us, within us, all things take flight
we are the breath of our ancestors
we are the change of their losses and the gains of their folly
supporting our footsteps toward the
female divine who, smiling though hour is late
welcomes those who were lost on their way
into feeling whole, not out-of-place
beyond sharp spaces of our regret
there is time ahead where even the damaged
heart can forget her sorrow
never too late for finding each other
as long as we breathe
there is always time to make right
disturbance turned close like moon
undoing hurt in redeeming womb