You say our children put me on a pedestal
that you can never reach me
that you can work forever
and they will never set you high
If I am on a pedestal, it is a pedestal I built
with my blood and my tears
my sacrifice and my love
It is a pedestal to raise my children up; it was never meant for me
I built it piece by piece to give them everything
Everything I had and everything I never had
The dreams I wanted for myself and never reached
the dreams I hoped they would create themselves
The guilt of being a single parent, the fear of never being enough
The agony of trying to be two parents instead of one
But mostly it was built of my love
A love unyielding and unbending
A love forged before they took their first breath
A love worth giving everything that I am to grow
I gave them all of me, every particle, every fiber
I showed up every time and I stayed by their side
And for that, they held on to me as I lifted them up
onto a pedestal made of my heart
em
3/2/22
