Pear blossom from daughter, card from friend, taken with iPhone
Now That I Am Forever With Child
by Audre Lorde
How the days went
while you were blooming within me
I remember each upon each--
the swelling changed planes of my body
and how you first fluttered, then jumped
and I thought it was my heart.
How the days wound down
and the turning of winter
I recall, with you growing heavy
against the wind. I thought
now her hands are formed, and her hair
has started to curl
now her teeth are done
now she sneezes. Then the seed opened
I bore you one morning just before spring
My head rang like a fiery piston
my legs were towers between which
A new world was passing.
Since then I can only distinguish
one thread within running hours
You, flowing through selves
toward You.