Finality in motherhood
You’re still a mother,
But never again
Shut down like a broken carnival ride
Or a dead flower waiting on spring’s renewal
Pieces of you voted obsolete
By logical minds,
Finances,
And spent endurance
It’s okay to be done,
To gather the pieces of yourself
To quilt tattered threads until you’re whole once again
But to still yearn for the flutter of new life
For newborn sounds and scrunched up legs
Oxytocin highs and milky smiles
Footy pajamas and linen swaddles
Sloppy kisses and misspoken words
That chapter is vivid
Colors abound,
Roped off by velvet,
Forever entombed and cherished
Finality, reality
Everything must end,
But my footsteps aren’t lonely
They don’t echo in vacant chambers
I walk with unbridled laughter,
Goldfish in my pockets
And questions of the universe
Mother forever
But never again
