Before bloody tearing 
became harrowed opening

an unrelenting scream signaled 
life and the possibility of my own death 

dangled its boundless mysteries 
in and through me 

while I pushed the eclipse 
of your head stubborn in how it hid 

from us, the breath I couldn’t catch
the back labor wrecking

the midwife’s hand in mine, 
your father’s pressed against 

my back, the body an eruption
unfathomable pain

the quiet of hospital socks
kissing linoleum shuffling 

through the waiting
the swelling, the water 

that rose, You lived 
in the surf of me

the pain, again a vicious wave
the self severed

who can stay the same 
after an end and a beginning

make love to each other
the descent insists on existing

that is nothing short of a miracle
this same miracle something 

my mother witnessed 
even when it conjured 

a divine grief for the self
I know she lost 

just like I have 
and two ghosts

find each other
just as You are 

arriving in the liminal space
between ground and ground

breathing in this imperfect earth
your newness so glaring 

I can’t help 
but look