"I think I'm going to have it,"
I said, joking between pains.
The midwife rolled competent
sleeves over corpulent milky arms.
"Dear, you never have it, we deliver it."
A judgment years proved true.
Certainly I've never had you
as you still have me, Caroline.
Why does a mother need a daughter?
Heart's needle, hostage to fortune,
freedom's end. Yet nothing's more perfect
than that bleating, razor-shaped cry
that delivers a mother to her baby.
The bloodcord snaps that held
their sphere together. The child,
tiny and alone, creates the mother.
A woman's life is her own
until it is taken away
by a first particular cry.
Then she is not alone
but part of the premises
of everything there is:
a time, a tribe, a war.
When we belong to the world
we become what we are.
Gorgeous. Miss Ella and the words.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm teary. Hello Peonies' baby. My daughter made me a mother. Some things are indelible.
ReplyDelete<3
ReplyDeletea beauty.
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful baby ^^
ReplyDeleteoh those wee little ones that both break and melt our hearts....often at the very same time.
ReplyDeletewelcome to the world unknown - it's yours to explore.
Beautiful and so tiny! Now I understand just a little what my mother feels for me. Looking forward to that all consuming feeling.
ReplyDeletethank you xxx
So lovely!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, beautiful, beautiful. <3
ReplyDeleteShivers.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad I checked, just in case. A beautiful baby and a poem that made my eyes prickle and the little hairs on my arm stand up. wishing all of you such happiness xx
ReplyDeleteOh, hello Ella!!
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful.
ReplyDeleteGod. That blonde fuzz just kills me :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful.
ReplyDeleteThis touches me.
ReplyDeleteJust perfectly, achingly beautiful. Both Ella and the words.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful notion; a child creates a mother. So simple and obvious, but something I'd never thought of.
ReplyDeleteAnd what a sweet little face! Truly lovely.
Oh! so beautiful
ReplyDelete