Poem: When you're...

When you're giving birth
(to a world),
don't try to figure out
how close you are to being done
or how healthy your fruit is:
keep breathing;
accept a massage --
and depend on the ones around you
to tell you, you're doing great

Later, waking up,
you will be able to think;
for now, there is pushing and resting

Later, you and your baby will cry,
perhaps together, perhaps not for years.



Ilana Streit, April 2004