Mother

Life is short
But it is also long
Forgiveness goes a long way

Maybe you were not
The best mother in the world
You had your neurosis,
childhood issues we all had,
perhaps the lack of a mother figure of your own

You have always been good at masking
I never knew what you were thinking
If you cared, or
if you are hurting

I wish I could tell you to put your mask away
that you are more beautiful that way
But even before I came to this world,
you have fought battles and been scarred
for decades.
I cannot tell you how to act

Yet somehow, my greatest hope
is I can forgive you for being less than perfect
To always think that you are still trying to figure it out
that you never had a role model in doing so

My greatest hope is that I will love you anyway,
to see beyond your mask that I've grown
to hate over the years
and see the human inside that until now
is still scarred, still hurting, still fighting

You are my mother, and for life, we are bound