I Cannot Help but Be What I Would Not

August 8, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is miscarriage, stillbirth, and death in early childhood.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

An angry poem from a mother who miscarried to a father who could not be there:

I cannot help but be what I would not:

A river raging reckless through our love;

But anger is the closest thing I've got

To what far more aggrieved must in me move.

I know quite well that I'm not being fair:

You could not help but be untimely gone.

But unlike you, I could not be but there

To feel our child go dead within my womb.

How you are like the wind, and I the earth

That bears the seed you scatter on your way!

Mine alone the brutal joys of birth;

Yours alone the choice to go or stay.

Despite our love, despite your sympathy,

I know that I in this alone must be.

© by Nicholas Gordon

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/icann2.html. For more poems about miscarriage and stillbirth, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/miscarriagepoems.html .

This week’s theme: Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Death in Early Childhood

8/6: Aryanna

8/7: To a Stillborn Sister

8/8: I Cannot Help but Be What I Would Not