Friday 16 June 2023

Old Maid's Puzzle

 

HOW NAIVE I HAVE BEEN

Our midwife told us to have

a song ready to sing just in case

our daughter needs resuscitation

after birth. A song to call her in

while they work the physical:

the new and hesitant muscle, lungs

delicate as orchids. She said

it should be a song our baby knows,

heard before from inside

the softened bower,

sifted through skin like sunlight

sinking to the bottom of a pond.

How naive I have been—the many

times I have said, art saves lives

and never meant like this.

-          Sierra DeMulder

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