Burn the house down in front of your daughters.
They will hang themselves from the tallest trees by their necklaces:
the sequoias will remind them of your spine
as they carve their last words into bark;
they will know every initial forced into your skin.
The shy bend of branches leads them to a stream you wept
for their bodies and the roots to drink from.
The gentle retaliation of their mother is true and sturdy,
the kindness of a woman is relentless.
Burn the house down in front of your daughters.
Do not let them go to bed in the grove without fight or forgiveness.