09/29/2025
๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ก๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ง๐ฎ๐๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ ๐ฒ
๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด
๐. ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ
She taught me to fold fitted sheets
and how to make gravy from nothing,
but never showed me
how to unfold the stories
pressed between her ribs...
the ones that made her hands shake
when thunder rolled too close.
๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ,
๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ.
๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ
๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
๐๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด
๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ข๐บ:
"๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ."
๐๐. ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐จ๐ป๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ป๐ฒ๐๐
She taught me to take up less space,
to apologize for existing too loudly,
to make myself digestible
for men who preferred
their women bite-sized.
But she never taught me
the spell for expansion:
๐๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐บ
๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ.
๐๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ
๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ.
๐๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด:
"๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ.
๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ.
๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ."
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ.
๐๐๐. ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ
She taught me that anger
was unladylike,
that fury belonged
to unhinged women,
that good girls
swallow their fire
and smile through the burning.
She never taught me
that rage can be holy:
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ด,
๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ.
๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ.
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต
๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ
๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด.
๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต.
๐๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐บ
๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐บ.
๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ด.
๐๐ฉ. ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ
She taught me to martyr
my dreams on the altar
of everyone else's needs,
to believe that love meant
disappearing piece by piece
until nothing was left
but the shape
others expected.
๐๐ณ๐ข๐ธ ๐ข ๐ค๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ต
๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต.
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต.
๐๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ:
"๐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด,
๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ญ.
๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ,
๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ."
๐ฉ. ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐
She did the best she could
with the broken tools
passed down to her,
with the wounds
still weeping
from her mother's mother.
๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ
๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ
๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด
๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ,
๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ: "๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ."
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ:
"๐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ
๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ
๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
๐ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ
๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ."
๐ฉ๐. ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
These spells she never taught me,
I teach myself.
I gather the fragments
of her unspoken wisdom,
the magic she buried
beneath submission,
the power she forgot
she carried in her blood.
๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ
๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฉ
๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ.
I cast these spells
to complete
the circle she started
but couldn't close,
the story she began
but couldn't finish.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ.
๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ.
๐ฅ๐ค
โ
โ
โ
โโโโโโโ
โพ โฝโ
โโโโโโโ
โ
โ
Written with a deep heart (as I always do, but this poem was significant to me, and I took quite a long time to finish it)... By Zenaida Nina, known as Baba the Word Witch | Moonstone Cottage. Copyright ยฉ 2025. All rights reserved.
