"Someday"

~

My beautiful daughter,

With golden blonde curls

And chubby legs

And deep brown eyes

Plays among the dandelions

And the horses.

She looks at me and smiles,

Dandelion chain around her neck,

And I wink at her.

I am a Lioness.

I am her mother.

I will protect her with my life,

Even to put my own body

Before hers.

I know the pain

Of this invisible disease

And I will not let it have her.

I am a warrior.

My sword is Knowledge,

My armor is Experience.

I close my eyes and imagine...

A world

Where she can live

Without learning how to

Smile through the tears,

Knowing I cannot always

Be her warrior.

Her Lioness.

In my dreams I see

A Great, Dark, Deep pit

That opens at her feet,

And inside it

Is The Enemy.

I scream.

The sound that comes from me

is not the scream of terror, or of pain,

It is the scream of a Lioness

Protecting her young.

I claw at its face

And I strike at its neck

And I push.

With everything in my body,

I push,

And then

With everything in my soul,

I push.

When I think there is no more left

And I am empty inside,

And ready to

Go into the Pit and

Take It with me,

I push once more

And the Beast

Falls.

The Great, Dark, Deep pit closes

And my daughter turns her face to me

And calls me her hero.

I pray...

That my beautiful blonde haired daughter

Someday is a Lioness

Protecting her young,

And I pray that she never

Has to be a warrior

Who her daughter calls a Hero.

~E. Schnakenberg

I am a migraineur of nearly 30 yrs. I also have autoimmune thyroid disease, osteoporosis and dystonia, all the result of inheritance.  The legacy I wanted to leave my children was not one of pain and struggle, but of happiness.  This was written with a young vision of her in my mind.   I believe that keeping a positive attitude is paramount to good health.  I wanted to see a positive outcome to the daily struggle, so I wrote one I could think about each day.  I am not a poet, nor do I understand the construction of poetry, but I do believe that when writing (or reading) what is in the soul, simple thoughts create Colors and simple words create Music that comes alive, no matter their order. There is music and color in even the dark words that, when experienced, allow us to let loose of things buried, and realize things longed for.