escape their fate

souls entwined
with a desire
to escape their fate

ancestors
collectively mourning
lost childhoods

disparate people
drawn together
by shared suffering

stumbling
forward
into a new life

fleeing their pasts
unwittingly creating
their futures

they know
what not to do
but not what to do

attempting to avoid
the same mistakes
their parents made

desperately praying
for their children
to escape their fate

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken