It is not of flesh and blood.
It will not have my eyes,
her earlobes,
her hair, my lack of it.
It will not have my top lip,
her bottom lip,
or any of the shared values
traditionally instilled at conception.

The descendants we bear
will not appease the elders
that only want something tiny
to hold, to name, to fawn over,
something that will change their names
from mother to grandmother
and father to grandfather.

Rather, our successors will live within,
forever,
our memories, afterall,
they were real imaginings once,
and now, they live within
our successes, and
our contributions
to an ever-changing world
that too often overlooks
the path we walk.
But hear this
from my mouth and with her ears,
our heirs will run, not to ruin,
from legacies built
on the acceptance of circumstance.

Nick Gaffney

Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash