I Am My Mother's Daughter

I watch her grow and hope the past will not repeat.

She carries my fire, bright and impossible to tame.

I promise her a love that will never know retreat.

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She storms like I once stormed with restless hands and feet,

and sometimes I hear old shadows whispering my name.

I watch her grow and hope the past will not repeat.

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My mother taught me stories of silence and defeat,

a kind of love that punishes the spark it tried to claim.

I promise her a love that will never know retreat.

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Her stubborn joy can press the bruise of every old deceit,

and in those moments fear reminds of where I came.

I watch her grow and hope the past will not repeat.

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Yet I offer gentle love each time our tempers meet,

choosing patience over patterns that once taught me shame.

I promise her a love that will never know retreat.

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She is the breaking of a lineage where tenderness was rare and incomplete,

and every day I choose a different ending for our name.

I watch her grow and hope the past will not repeat.

I promise her a love that will never know retreat.