We Can

We can’t carry the weight of the world.

But we can carry them beneath our heart,

and in our arms, back and forth

a welcomed weight,

a tireless love.

We can’t give them all their dreams.

But we can be the keepers, the believers,

the voice that whispers,

‘you can’, ‘you will’.

We can’t stop the hurricane inside,

Their tiny rage, big enough to swallow us whole

But we can sigh,

and cry, and throw an umbrella across both oceans.

We can’t fit back the pieces,

as they were before,

But we can build bridges after.

we can grow from the cracks,

The ones we thought might break us.

We can’t go back to yesterday

But we can breathe in today,

And meet ourselves again,

In the centre of each season

The old and new.

We can’t fit into boxes

Too small to speak our truth

But we can learn the things

We always knew

Our babies cries can shatter it’s walls

We can trace our own edges

Write our own stories.

We can’t always escape the darkness

But we can sit next to it’s shadow of yesterday

We can look into it’s eyes.

Where we find our strength,

And our weakness.

We can’t always make their pain go away,

Even when it becomes our own.

But we can be their comfort,

our skin, our presence.

We can say “I’m here, I’m here” and stay.

We can’t do everything,

But we can be everything

We can be theirs.

And that is enough.

Written for Mumli

Artwork by Nicole Wegman