Silhouette of a mother and young daughter sitting on the beach with the sunset in the background
Fiction

Her Mother’s Advice

Country of Origin: China

(Audio recording by Yosef Baskin)

Her mother told her when she was young –

Be the kind of woman who can keep a family united.

A woman who guards and protects fragile relationships,

who cushions each family bond, so they don’t break.

But no one ever taught her how to fix the broken

pieces of her, trying to keep people together.

Too often are women expected to be the glue –

as if we are born to repair, hold together and rescue.

Too often are women left broken because the only thing

they couldn’t put back together was themselves.

Too often women break because they were never taught

to strengthen their foundations before learning to cement the lives of others.


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Shikha S. Lamba is a jewelry designer and poet living in Hong Kong. She is also the co-editor of an online magazine, Coffee and Conversations. In love with all things creative, she has contributed poetry and articles for various publications in Hong Kong, the US and India over the years. Passionate about raising awareness about women’s health and mental health issues through her writing, Shikha’s poems often touch on themes of feminism and social injustice. She admittedly lives a big portion of her life online and can be found on most social media sites for her writing, jewelry and magazine.

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