Baby

Printer-friendly versionTom Donlon
For Jade

It’s a natural process, yes,
the body’s way to say no
to the embryo, the little one
clinging to the womb
the fragile, developing form,
baby, the Mr. or Mrs. whoever
you were going to be
had not the body said no,
something is amiss, this birth
will not happen, you month old,
fledgling child, you echo
of the heartbeat, the desire
of your mother, her womb
the home, the percolator,
the starting place of the life
you did not grow into, you
intricate DNA, the intertwining
of your parents, you, longed for,
the light in your mother’s eyes,
you, who cannot be carried,
loved one, spark of life,
stopped, discharged, free to go,
no room at the inn, denied
the parting labial entry
into the world, miscarriage
of justice, we will never
forget you.

Tom Donlon, of Shenandoah Junction, W.Va., is a project manager for Verizon Communications. His poems have appeared in various journals and anthologies, including Commonweal.

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