My Mother's Womb

The dark hole

I crept from

breath by breath.

Out into the sun,
out into the light.

The doctor’s hand

upon my throat.

The smell of nitrous

and alcohol.

The long tunnel.

The black.

The endless black.

One cord
cut,

but never severed,

pumping

me full

of blood

and fear.

Your breathing.

deep inside mine.

One,

but not one.

Always out of sync.

A dysfunctional rhythm
I could never right.