Little One

Little One

I’m watching my little girl grow up

Right before my eyes

And within her I see myself

So many things are different

Between the two of us

And yet so many things 

Remain the same

I was the big girl

The chubby but funny one

Probably pretty 

Surprisingly smart

And what I lacked in social graces

I made up for in spunk

But I was a target 

For all the other girls

The pin cushion

To their venomous fangs

Words spit at me 

That stung terribly

And those wounds just never seem to heal

And how I wanted to protect her

So that she had a thicker skin than mine

But I see how it feels

I see it happening 

Over and over

The little girls

Using words as weapons

To wound my little one

Her self esteem

Taking the blows

My brave girl

Who is so different from me

My magpie

Chirping at anyone who will listen

Slippery as an alley cat

She navigates the playground 

And the tin can tossers

Playing on her own

Or with anyone else alone

Because she doesn’t want them to feel lonely

Wearing a smile 

Until bedtime

With her bravery worn down

To the bones

We cuddle together

And she tells me about her day

And she cries 

Because she doesn’t understand 

What makes her such a horrible person

To all these other girls she treats so kindly

And I tell her stories

Of when her mother was young

And the words that were used to hurt me

How I turned those words into fire and ice

I made them mine and took their power away 

And we both cry 

Me, because this cycle seems doomed to repeat

And her, because she understands that she is not alone

So here we are once more

Mother and daughter

While I try and bear the weight of her pain 

As I once bore my own

But my little one

Remember

It doesn’t last forever

Words: ©2021LCR

Image: No Claim to Copyright, Purity by Kim Berggren