An Ode to a Lifelong Friend

Tonight, Mother put her arms around me

And she hugged me tight,

So tight, she wouldn't let go.

Tonight, she put the broken pieces inside me together.

And I couldn't help but break down in her arms.

She told me it was okay to not be okay.

And after what felt like a lifetime,

I took a deep breath

and stopped pretending.

I had been fighting for too long.

Perhaps there was no fight left in me.

Between streaming tears and a fragile breaking heart,

I heard her gently say:

"You are not weak, for I have made you strong."

Don't you see what you are made of?

But, my mother is a warrior,

And so were the women who came before her.

The same blood courses through my veins.

That same fire rages in my belly.

Warrior or not, tomorrow I will

Wake up once more and try.

I'll be nothing less of a warrior,

I refuse to be otherwise.

I owe it to the women who came before me,

And the ones who come after.

But most importantly, Mother, I owe it to you.

You were right all along:

Yes, you have made me strong.

The writer is a Biotechnology graduate from the USA.