Daughter
Written by Kelly Ann Wilson 

Daughter  

Who gets told  
You look just like your mother  

Who works so hard to be  
The best parts of who she is 

But has spent all of these years  
Trying to figure out  
Why she did  
The worst thing she ever did 

Daughter  

Who comes from generations
Of farmers  

Where the women keep the house  
And make the supper  
Who go to work as nurses and teachers  

And half of you wants everything they had  
And half of you sees 
They might have had dreams   
That were just a little bigger than that  

Daughter  

Who has had so many people fight for her  
And so, she learned to go to war for others  
But if she dares to stand up for herself 
They tell her she’s doing it too loud  

And they don’t ever give a thought  
To what it took for her  
To even believe  
That she could speak up  

And so, they miss another chance  
To be proud 
Of their daughter  

And sometimes, it seems  
No matter who you choose to be  
You’re letting people down  

And that the only choice you really have  
Is if it’s them or yourself  

But what if you are here right now  
To step out of the line drawn by the past  
And maybe, one day, when they say  
It runs in the family  
You’ll be where that started 

Daughter  

Who sees that time is going by 
Who sees the grey in their hair 
And age in their eyes  
And how do you ever reconcile 
That your heroes are human  

Daughter  

How do you put the guilt and regret down  
From when you were younger then  
And didn’t understand just yet  
And you would do it all 
So differently now  

Oh, but you hope that maybe 
They can see 
All they gave you  
That you’re gonna pass down  
To your daughter  

Daughter  

Who gets told  
You look just like your mother

Written October 23, 2022
© 2022 Kelly Ann Wilson