In Maternity (Poem)

In Maternity

Standing beside the bed after her mother’s
hysterectomy, my wife recounts her day,
moving hands beneath blankets to chase
the cold and cramps from Mom’s feet.

Where their contours meet in the heavy,
anesthetic light, I imagine, from my place
in the room’s corner, the moment
when one becomes two, when
a mother’s blood sears the flesh,
transfers breath for the life in the womb.

Then the door opens and my wife’s
pregnant shadow unfolds
against the crack spread by a nurse
and filled with a newborn’s expanding cry.