The Mother I Know by Deborah Edwards

The Mother I Know

by Deborah Edwards

For nine months, you carried me.

I dwelled in the innermost part of your womb.

You had felt my heartbeat.

You had felt me kick you in the middle of the night.

You had felt me jump for joy at the sound of your name.

You had felt me burp, when I had enough to eat.

You even saw a picture of me not yet born.

How come the day that I had arrived you stopped carrying me?

I cried but you did not hear me.

I wanted to nurse from you but you would not.

I wanted you to hold me but you did not.

So, now I am motherless.

But wait! Who's there? I

t is a woman who wants to take care of me.

Now, I cry and she hears me.

I want to be fed and she gives me food.

I want to be loved and her arms are open wide.

Months have past and I see you at last.

When the woman lets me go into your arms, I don't know you, so I scream.

Back into the woman's arms, I am at peace.

Because she has always been mother to me.