" THE MOTHER

is always two faced.
At best, she wishes you
into being. Yes it was she
cried at the seven drops of blood that fell,
staining the snow - she
who bargained crazily with Fate
for that long-waited child
as red as blood
as white as snow
and when you came true it was
she who clapped her hands merrily because
she was as happy as a Queen could be.
But she's always dying early,
so often it begins to look deliberate,
abandoning you,
leaving you to the terrible mercy
of the Worst Mother, the one who married
your father.
She doesn't like you, she
prefers all your sisters, she
loves her sons.
She's jealous of mirrors.
She wants your heart in a casket... "

― Liz Lochhead , The Grimm Sisters