Audre Lourde

Now That I Am Forever With Child
By Audre Lorde

How the days went
while you were blooming within me.
I remember each upon each-
the swelling changed planes of my body
and I thought it was my heart.

How the days wound down
and the turning of winter.
I recall with you growing heavy against the wind.
I thought
now her hands are formed
and her hair has stared to curl.
Now her teeth are done
now she sneezes.

Then the seed opened
I bore you one morning just before spring.
My head rang like a fiery piston,
my legs were towers between which
a new world was passing.

Since then
I can only distinguish one thread within running hours.
You, flowing through selves
toward you.