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So I’ll have to admit this one cuts deep. Some realizations come later in life, huh?
What inspired me for this poem was the idea of a child that comes to exist with a mission to accomplish. It should never happen, but most parents welcome their children with the most unreal expectations of what they should be or do. There is a very well known Brazilian song from the 90’s that says “You blame your parents for everything and that’s absurd. They are children, just like you”. You can listen to it here:
I think that is very true. What I did not expect was to have a side experience by being a daughter: your mission is or at some point will be sharing the load of your mother’s burdens, because you know them so well. Society is cruel with women and caring for others is usually their primary job. That takes its toll on their life eventually, and it affects especially their daughters in their adult life.
This piece is me trying to come to terms with some perspectives I gained after I realized that breaking the cycle goes deeper than just doing things differently. I think it is more open ended, and it allows more interpretations depending on the reader’s life experiences. For me, it is about being trapped in a loop you are desperately trying to escape from and every attempt of leaving has a terrible risk of bringing you closer – like quicksand.
A Girl on a Mission may seem like a poem about motherhood, but is actually a statement on generational trauma and how you play a role unknowingly of the consequences, until the necessary hurt you go through opens a path. Every step you take in this path has to be an intentional and aware action, and if you lose sight of what you are doing, you will repeat the pattern you are trying to break.
Recently, this subject has been addressed in many popular movies, such as “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, Pixar’s “Turning Red” and Disney’s “Encanto”.
What is your opinion about it? Let’s talk in the comments!
A Girl on a Mission
There once was a little girl To whom it was given nothing. So she grew up, taking tasks that were not hers to feel needed She kept giving, So they kept taking. When two little girls of her own were born, To the first, she did not know what to give So she gave her nothing, too. Except for maybe, all of her decisions. But to the youngest, she knew better. So she gave her everything. All she could not be. All that she needed to give up. It took years for the youngest girl who had it all to realize That she was also given the little girl’s burdens. And everything her mother had given enabled her To make things different. But it is the same reason that, If the girl who has it all is not careful, Make things all the same.