Frayed

I feel hollow today.

It’s nagging and gnawing

Digging up

And turning over

Years of debris

An excavation

Nostalgic loss so bittersweet,

I can taste it on my tongue

Filling my mouth

And flooding my eyes

With feelings

So raw

They strike a nerve

Igniting memories.

Those initial moments.

The first few days

After giving birth

My belly emptied

It’s precious cargo

In my arms

A life

So deeply wound within my own

A life

So profoundly separate from yours

I cut the cord

Fraying ends

Between

Two precarious edges

Sharp and bright steel

Pressing

Until they converge

The impact of this gesture

Stunning in it’s release

Tying you off

As I wait

For the aftermath

Of your birth

Threadbare and frayed

A life.

To be delivered.

~N.E. Philomèle~ ©️2020