Aluredian
40
Her Legacy
by Olivia Feilden, 61
Child, I give you my looks
Your father that they won me
Put my portrait there in the family gallery and my photos along the dresser
For now I've suddenly become a mere ancestor.
Dear one, I leave you my mind
Its individuality and the things it achieved
You never knew half its thoughts, or the sufferings it bought
I leave you my diaries - they'll tell you.
Little troublemaker, I leave you my eyes
The tears they cried and the laughs they held
My nose - that you touched that night you were born - smelt roses, blood, bread and fire.
And these lips would have kissed you all night, if you'd let them.
My dear, I leave you my voice
How it shouted! sang! whispered!
Now it's tired, but till yours wanes, never stop singing!
Dearest child, I leave you my arms What
I would give to embrace you one more time, or
Fling my arms wide as I breathe in life And
my hands that wrote, and worked, and wrote again, thinking of you.
Poppet, don't ever stop dancing.
Darling, I leave you my legs and feet
That danced the night away with your father
And walked the hills, never tired, once upon a time
Keep them safe and warm, every little toe.
My beautiful girl, I leave you my femininity
The children it bore me, the grace it gave me
Never let someone else shape you. You are yourself.
One day you will know who that is, I promise.
I leave you my hair,
Curled and cut and tossed through the winds
And my ears,
The gossip they heard, the secrets they received, the shocks that entered through them.
Purest one, I leave you my lungs
The air they've inhaled and the thoughts they've suffocated
Breathing, forever strong and reliable, till now
And lastly, my emotional daughter,
I leave you my heart, my soul and spirit
Both the pain that dented them and the love that embraced them
You will need both pain and love to live to the full
Then one day you will give your heart to a man
May he love you as much as I did.