Cradle

Cradle

By Regina Legarte

I am someone’s daughter, but

my mother is the universe.

I am not an only child—

my family is unbroken.

My siblings are called Orion, Leo,

Andromeda, Lyra.

Sometimes we collide, and we

apologise through light.

This is how it has been all my life.

Anak, my mother calls to me.

I am not an only child.

I dream in English, but my tongue

remembers my mother’s language. ◆