Masked as Mother

Masked as Mother

What's under- other

A cool demeanor

Hides something meaner

Often, I dreamt of someone other

To mow the lawn, make our grass greener

*

Masked as Mother

Don't leave us, Father

He's off to work

Prelude, her smirk

Encounter, No, I needn't bother

Disguise gone, my sidestep, shirk

*

Masked as Mother

Her love, no smother

Cold and distant

High-pitched rants

Indeed, so often hard to love her

Tween risen eyebrows, a cruel stance

*

Masked as Mother

Beneath, a monster

A child's looming nightmare

Contrasting words, no doubt, impair

Family should equal loving each other

At a loss, I struggled with "welfare"

*

Masked as Mother

I am now a mother

Seen the threat, lived her hell

Knowledge, power, lifts the spell

A fleur, a rose, she was always Mother

She did her best; she was just unwell

***

Author's note: My second entry in the challenge reflects maternal depression, specifically Postpartum. A personal reflection of a time when culture-specific ideologies and society shunned all talk of struggling mental health. The masks women wore, and still wear in our modern day, while raising a family, should not be there.