birth unmarked

Reggie

Born in a bathroom stall,
A boy not built to breathe
As a man, too soon he came
Only mama held his body,
Warmth fading limb by limb.

She waited there alone,
Sanctity of privacy granted
By the nature of the place--
Toilets made for refuse of body
Not the receiving of souls.

She waited there with him,
Absurd idea to give birth there,
Ill timed and out of order--
This stall is taken, use the next--
Gestation interrupted;

Her life pauses to hold the remains
Of what is left, a replica
No more human but a picture of him
Who was drawn to his creator
The boy returns, his body bent to earth.

From dust to dust, says the priest.
So let it be.  And she awaits
The coming of the husbandman,
Tied to the dead man-child's flesh
She carried life in blood and water, mingled.


Ps.  this poem is part 2, of a series.