MARIA'S DAY

I AM MY MOTHER

I am my mother’s son

But what of her is in me?

What use is my patriarch lineage?

With no sense of history?

Why is my last name maternal?

And still, the fact lingers in my mind

That I've been robbed jus’ like she

By he who donated me life...

...such confusion burns in me

And uncertainty that will not sleep,

Pacing the floors of my mind

Over a control that was not mine.

Years of opportunities missed

Bear disappointments as gifts

And as another year dawns on me

I keep trying to be the opposite of she.