This poem is the one that started the whole journey. It came at a very trying time as I was trying to navigate my way forward.
It was the catalyst for all my other recent poems, as well as the start of wondering if I had the ability to write a novel.
You were a child,
denied protection
A young woman
bound to expectations
beyond her role
A mother
besieged by
trauma and fear
A fortress of
protection
built by bricks of
control
The bird with a broken foot
demanding the child fly
while clipping its wings
for fear that it might
I’m no longer
the child
kept small by your
fear
Now grown and unafraid
To you, I’ve become the
enemy
How did she learn to fly?
A middle-aged woman
unable to face your demons
So consumed by fear
there’s little room for
happiness
Small mind, small heart
grasping at shards of joy
The fire within
is now too bright
for you to extinguish
I’m who I am
because of you
but also
despite you
My own children
free to fly
wherever their wings
carry them
Full of happiness
in ways you
could never be
The cycle breaks with me