A Mother's Refrain Poem by Sumita Jetley

She walked like a queen through the halls of her reign,
Her voice like thunder, her presence untamed.
With bangles that sang and a gaze sharp as swords,
She bent the world with her silent accords.

A mother, a storm, a force to behold,
With secrets unspoken and tales left untold.
Her hands shaped the chaos, her words carved the air,
She led with a power both fierce and unfair.

I watched from the shadows, her fire too bright,
Her life a tempest, her moods day and night.
She ruled without mercy, but love lingered near,
In gestures so fleeting, in words hard to hear.

She'd scold me for silence, for fading from view,
"Speak louder, " she'd say, "the world must see you."
But my voice was a whisper, her echoes too strong,
In her shadow I lingered, where I didn't belong.

Then one day I spoke, as the storm raged inside,
"Your rules are your own; I'll walk my own tide."
Her silence was heavy, her glance like a knife,
But I saw her pride cut through the strife.

Years softened her edges; her storms turned to rain,
And I saw in her eyes both joy and pain.
The threads of her love had woven through time,
Connecting our hearts in ways undefined.

She taught me to rise, to burn and to bend,
To carve out my story, to make my own end.
We were never the same, but we didn't need to be,
For in her reflection, I found all of me.