“oh, she looks just like you.”
i never really understood that..
i didn’t get your eyes–
mine are blue, yours are green.
i didn’t get your hair–
yours is black, mine is purple
well…blonde.
i didn’t get your greys-
probably just got your stress.
i think maybe i got your shoulders-
sunk heavy, both with the weight of the world.
and definitely your legs-
always so much smaller
than our bodies really needed.
i thought i got your smarts
but you weren’t there to see me read.
i thought i got your strength 
but i am stronger than you are.
i thought i got your insight
but i really just got your trust issues.
i thought i got your kindness
but you only taught me guilt.
i thought i got your corrections,
but i only got the belt.
i thought i got your pain 
because you always said,
“this hurts me more than it hurts you”.
i thought i got your compassion
but it’s a lot more sinister when you say it as,
“i am the law.”
i did get your taste for violence-
and we never flinch from blood.
maybe the PTSD and OCD and paranoia
were from epegenetics.
i thought i got your love;
i only inherited fear.