Poem: Birth

As the embryo inside of you

Grows with cell and cell,

Your mother’s waste away.

As the fetus within you

Begins to kick for the first time,

Your mother’s strength ebbs.

As you scream with the pain of delivery,

And later call the telephone with joy

To tell of the arrival of a beautiful baby,

You find out she has passed away.

Your daughter runs around the backyard playground,

Now eight,

And you clutch a forgotten photograph

Of you mother when she was the same age,

Misplaced in a dusty drawer.

The resemblance is uncanny.

Your survey closer.

A gasp rips from your throat.

You have given birth to your own

Mother.