I am a woman of layers
To say I am onion would be perhaps incorrect
I am more so a cake
Of batter and wear,
Frosting and knee stings,
Chocolate dark skin,
Milky light dreams
And,
I also have the cake.

Inflating
It’s growing and pulsating
With every angered shriek and hurtful outburst
The hideous words echoing in the room
Retaliation after retaliation
What is peace in a household?
What is happiness in a marriage?
Words of cops and lawsuits
Disrespect and money
I’m not really sure “where the love” is anymore
Can the Black Eyed Peas darken my eyes so I cannot see my parents committing this crime
A sin of a fairytale broken
Reality tokens
All in this gambling game of marriage
Except there is no winning, no giving up
Only losing
Losing love, losing hope, losing peace
It’s growing and pulsating
This ache inside my head from the echoes on the walls
It’s inflating
Maybe that’s why my forehead is so large
Just reactions of overthinking

Have you ever heard of a woman so strong she could be David's daughter
So wise, King Solomon was surely her instructor?
Have you ever felt more joy than Noah at the sight of his doves' fig tree
Or happy as Mary was when she looked down at her blessing from above?
This is to me, my mother

Have you ever been shown love and compassion mirroring Mother Theresa's grace
Or joined with someone in pure merry and bliss as Kenyans were when the United States elected Obama?
Have you ever received endless love and support from a woman who grew up with so little?
Have you ever thought to yourself, as God blessed the people of Jerusalem with a Star, you have been blessed with one shinning bright one?
This is my mother.

Have you ever felt that there was only one person in the world who would truly be there for you at the end of the day?
Have you ever felt that God truly loves you because the possibilities of not having not only a mother, but this mother in your life are unfathomable?
Have you ever felt speechless and wordless towards the love and grace just one person has shown you?
Have you ever felt engulfed in a sea of God's gift...God's light?

You have never felt this way unless you have met my mother
God's blessings sometimes stuns us.
I believe my biggest surprise is the love He showed me by giving me someone like you.

One broke her,
Into thin fibers of glass disarranging a once whole vase
A beautiful vase, multifaceted and covered in ornate beauty
Intricate, delicate, carefully carved
A whole vase, filled to the brim with life and love
But what does love look like? She knows not anymore.

Two found the vase in ruins,
picked up her pieces, mended her and held on to her afraid she would break once more
Carefully, protectively she now lived.
Given everything, someone who had mended her.
Yet she still felt a sense of a missing piece
A gap, a hole, a missing fragile piece, unfilled but by One who had broken her

Why does she love One who hurt her, who broke her who left her unfilled?
Two many times has he mended her back together
Yet One is still the missing piece, the gap, the hole, the Vase