Mother and Daughter

Mother and Child
Such delicate, intricate lace,
Woven from the finest of threads
with utmost care for pattern, function, and beauty,
Up close it is just a blurry tangle of knots,
If only we could break free of the sticky web of it long enough to see the beauty
Without actually losing the connection,

Such intimacy, such sacrifice in the name of love,
Such understanding and such strangeness,
We are part of the same thread,
yet there seems to be only a miniscule fiber that is our common ground.
And how can we ever celebrate the miraculous design we have created together if we can never step back far enough to see the whole of it.

You are my daughter and I am yours,
As you grow, I am
learning all the lessons of my childhood over again,
I am your mother and you are mine,
As you grow, I seek to fulfill all the childhood needs that were missing in mine
And I hope to discover the new soul that you are creating in you.
It is difficult to separate myself from a work of art that I have tended to for nearly the whole of my adult life and yet separate we must.

I must again become the adult I began to be when I was your age
I must learn how to be who I am without you
You must continue to grow into the person you are finding
You must learn how to be who you are independent of me

We will always be threads in the same tapestry,
Connected forever by DNA and stories, colors, shared history, and the struggle to break free of each other.
I will always feel the tug to draw you back to me, to hold you one more time in my arms and remind you that I celebrate the day I brought you into this world.
You will never be able to completely forget me as you discover the part of you that is me.

No matter what or where or how, no matter good or bad or horrendous, no matter war or peace or unbelievable success,
You and i
Will always be what we were in the beginning
Mother and child.

© August 4, 2005 Julie A. Bonde