Heirloom

By: The Millwright

Graphics by: Ma. Alyssa Therese S. Manalang

All my mother ever wanted was to survive. 

When she was born, the only family heirloom 

she could pass on was ambition. 

There was no money to the family name, 

no land to inherit—there was only grit 

and desire 

to be more than this little hometown, 

to be more than this provincial life. 

Her strictness would sometimes translate 

to a cruelty I would resent in adolescence; 

I would grow to hate her for years. 

Later in my early adult life, I would learn 

that her anger stems from a love and a wish 

that I would become what she couldn't be. 

With a shelter over my head, 

food in a decent dining set, 

I get to dream beyond what she could fathom. 

My full stomach gets to imagine 

when her empty one only cried to be filled. 

All my mother ever wanted was to survive 

and I thank her that I get to want to live.