Somebody’s Daughter is a song that I wrote in about 10 minutes, on the edge of my bed in while I was processing becoming a mum again, as well as understanding more about my own mother.
It’s a bit of a "get stuffed" to all of the systems that keep us down, and about how we are holding the tension between being angry about those systems, whilst simultaneously wanting to belong. Ultimately it is about me finally looking for love in all the right places and acknowledging my own role as the gate keeper of my own oppression.
Writing for me has always been an incredibly uplifting experience and a way to make sense of my own family’s story, which is far from perfect. Our story doesn’t fit nicely into any of the well-known narratives of this country- white or black. There are many solid things to grab a hold of, and just as many empty holes. But it is our story. All I can hope is that I have been of service, that I have honoured both the wisdom and the suffering of my Ancestors - on all sides- and that I might have contributed some small part in healing and birthing a new family line where trauma, disconnection, separation from country and abuse aren’t the main through lines.
If I could go back and sit with my grandma and her sisters when they were children, living in small camps in the bush and along the rivers, on the fringes, with hardly any food or clothing, with nowhere to belong or be for more than a few weeks, I would show them my children. I would show them how safe and nourished and loved and secure they are in this world thanks to their sacrifices and the suffering the grandmothers both experienced and inflicted.
Experiencing the reality of humankind is a wild ride and I am glad to be able to see it for what it is- a temporary journey that always ends and sees us all return to wholeness and to God.
You are strength.
You are water.