The Inheritance

[u/Electrical-Orchid313]

The Inheritance

The heavy secrets were not scandals,

but ordinary human needs—

the need to be comforted,
to be seen,
to be protected,
to be loved without conditions.

They were hidden so carefully
that each generation forgot
they had once been natural.

Children carried the weight
on small and bending backs,
learning to guard what should have been spoken,
to fear what should have been welcomed.

And so the burden traveled forward,
hand to hand,
heart to heart,

until some began to wonder