Heartland Society of Women Writers

By Paige Wyatt

My mother leans into my shoulder
A towering force shielding me 
From the way the world has treated her
Holding the sky up with her shoulders
Forced to kneel when she was queen to lesser men

She is not diminished now 
Her strength has bled into me
Her hands have worked me and shaped me
She has passed her power on

My father’s flaws are my birthright
But so are my mother’s strengths 
Her mind, her body, her accomplishments 
Lean against me now

Because of her I am a woman 
Who stands tall