The hardest thing ever was born a baby who had
long learned to float in her mother’s waters
swimming her way to oxygen
with first breath then knowing
all this time held inside had been denial
you can run and think yourself changed
while you convince yourself the fates are laughing
look at her
she thinks herself free
she is right back where she started
minus buoyancy of years and water inside
lending fracture to ideas
now she has less to help her float
no cord to pull her child along in hope
those things she gave up are cut away
they stay briefly on surface before submerging
reflecting what might have been
had she listened more closely
when did she cease making those graceful lines
cut through hushed air?
what happened in the years from then and now
to cut off her need to move?
she had music in her eyes
where did she go?
her loss, is not written down, those
who lament tell a different story
poor years wasted, nothing of what she gave up
it is that silent bereavement she knows
will be whittled into the bow of her boat
she is cast off
land is distant
she has only the water
to return
and find what has gone
with the storm
Beautiful writing Feathers! 🌷
Thank you lovely girl!
The beginning is so beautiful. I felt when I was about yo have my first baby that birth is that first of many separations. His movement from my waters to breath of fresh air. And that’s what birth is. A beautiful breath of fresh air in new life.
Beautifully done, sort of a Lewis Carroll effect in Alice in Wonderland.
“and find what is gone with the storm” is magnificent ! Eight words which could mean so much to so many people! I see myself adrift sometimes picking pieces of memories from the water….like a written verse, water stained and only party legible. I drift as I try to remember those lines until I see something else floating near by. Thank you so much for sharing your unequalled talents and gifts!
Beautifully done
Lovely
That’s what I thought too!
Thank you so much!
Thank you R, I saw your breakdown of someone else’s poem the other day, you write a lot and give a lot in your responses to your friends and always they learn from your responses more about what they themselves are writing/conveying.
🙂 @! thank you so much Keith
Thank you so much. I hadn’t thought of birth as separation but that’s so true. You understand things I never could I envy that it is a beautiful thing about being a mother that every woman should experience because it makes them into all that they can be.
There are lots of ways to be a whole woman. Motherhood is not the answer to that. In fact one should feel whole within themselves before ever bringing life into this world. You are all that you are because you are you, not because you are a mother or father or neither.
Agreed but I do think motherhood is one that cannot be replicated elsewhere and is the very essence of a woman. I’ve been told I’m not PC saying that but I truly believe it. I think that is why men are usually less multi dimensional as women – I feel that the experience of bringing life into the world is something that is unique to a mother and the most powerful message and act we can ever give or do.
My favorite lines:
when did she cease making those graceful lines
cut through hushed air?
what happened in the years from then and now
to cut off her need to move?
she had music in her eyes
where did she go?
Had a hint of Lewis Carroll but with your own vision at hand.
Your words bring such powerful and hope for mankind.
Indeed, the very essence of your words carry a surreal world that the world itself needs to understand what is happening around us.
Brilliant writing my sister.
P.S Did you get my text?
Oh I agree it’s enormously powerful. I just want you to know you are perfect just for being you. You are a wonderful woman that just illuminates uniqueness.
Such delight