Endarken - My dispassionate melody

My dispassionate melody
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when does a mother
lose her compassion?

is it the first fear for 
her baby in swaddling;
the fragility of the
temporary infant state?
that sways her to jealously
guard them against...

...everyone?

at that point, does the 
fear eclipse the love?
in that moment of loathing is 
all compassion lost?

i am not a mother, though
i watched my own carry 
the same buried grudge -
her forehead marked by 
the weight of the  
chip on her shoulder.

i grew watching her eyes bear 
that same steel glare for either
friend or foe who stepped a 
toe just a little too near, if 
not over the line...

the same steel glare as you wear proudly 
and call yourself a mother.

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