Haven't posted here in a long time but yesterday I came across this poem and it really struck me. Maybe because I've spent my whole life surrounded by women!!!!  It was written by Anna Marquardt from Texas, and more of her poems are on the hubpages site below. Thanks Anna for this wonderful poem.

https://hubpages.com/literature/I-Have-a-Daughter

I Have a Daughter

I have a daughter.
She lives inside me.
I sing her to sleep
every single night
so she remembers
the sound of her voice.
I press my lips
to her ear
and whisper away
demons and monsters
with pretty faces
but sharp teeth.

I have a sister.
She lives inside me.
I hold her hand
when times are tough
so she remembers
she is never alone.
I hold her
against my chest
when breathing burns
and the shedding of skin
becomes too painful
to bare.

I have a mother.
She lives inside me.
I tell her I love her
so she knows
she's doing a good job.
I wipe away
her tears
when she forgets
she isn't a child anymore
and no one
will help her.

I wrap myself around
my daughter
my sister
my mother
myself
to protect them from
the war
the invasion
the destruction
of innocence
of purity
of love.

Because no one
can protect us
except us.

I hold
my daughter
and
my sister
and
my mother
and
myself
inside a fortress
of shaking iron
and trembling bolts
with bones of steel
forged from blood
with the power
to bring empires
to their knees.

I have a warrior
living inside me.
She sings
to my daughter.
She hugs
my sister.
She listens
to my mother.
She wraps her steel arms
around my throat
and tells me
to keep breathing
to keep fighting
to keep conquering.

I have a daughter
who will one day
ask me where I got my smile
and I will tell her:
from myself.