NEWBORN

The loveliness I felt

Embracing newborn June

Recalled to heart

The raw life essence

Attending brand new babes.

Three times and three again

I’ve been privileged to hold

This essence in my arms

And inhale the scent of freshly minted life

Touch the silken thread of universal being.

Treasure beyond all treasure.

Three sons then three granddaughters

Offered eloquent tastes of hope.

As their pliable small bodies and spirits

Fit into my own maturing curves

And we melted together.

All present and accounted for ---

Fingers, toes and all parts in between.

Naming this presence “miracle”

Does trite injustice to what it is.

Mouth searching for sustenance

Eyes following the light.

I plant a thousand kisses

On June’s neck

And she responds

With visible delight,

And wonder.

An angelic smile illuminates her face.

She pauses to know from where

The kisses come.

I touch exquisite softness

Of her peach fuzz head

Tiny fingers grasp. They wrap around my own

And I cannot bear to let her go.

My heart breaks

Into a thousand poignant pieces

Each time I let her go.

How have we forgotten

Or did we ever know

How precious is this gift of life

Wrapped in infant skin?

How cavalier our posturing

Pretending a child’s disposability

To be hauled out with the trash.

Too barbaric to look humanity

In the face and admit

The vileness of this act.

No wonder we are beset by guilt

Then driven to other horrors

Because we deign to tell ourselves

The choice is ours

To make.

How dare we?

Shirking all response-ability,

We hide our shame in the mob-speak of the day

While obliviously aiding others to profiteer.

We know not what we do

And refuse to even see

How fully formed fetuses,

Vital babes inside the womb

Submit their hopeful little spirits

That then become dismembered parts.

Pathetically, we fail

To know the joy

They could have brought us

Joy so lacking in our world

And we lose the chance to plant

Sweet kisses

On tender necks that bring delight.

by Carroll Devine February 3, 2019

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