My Birth, I Imagine.

I was born in slow motion

The day I came

Taking longer than expected, but coming just the same

My mother’s coarse brown hair tied loosely in a knot behind her neck

Strands slip from their place, matting against her dampened cheeks

Hands shifting between

White knuckles gripping her sisters shirt

And soft palms pressing lightly, holding a round belly

Movement deep inside

Wonder

Unable to decide between joy and fear

She speaks softly, articulating her heart

To my father

He crouches on the cold tile floor alongside the bed

Sweat beaded at his temples, fingering his unkempt hair

Head between his knees

Trying to remember how to breathe

Lying on her back she gazes to the light above

It’s bright, too bright in fact

She closes her eyes,

Wanting to stay right there

Momentarily succumbing to creation

My mother keeps me in limbo

Between light and grey

Holding or releasing

That which she cannot protect

It will be a struggle all her life

She moves both hands to her heart,

Asking a God she cannot see, for something she does not know

Then, in a still moment, no one breathes

I come

In slow motion

Born

To humbled arms

That will hold me for a lifetime

A place I belong, humanity’s heart

My fathers trembling fingers trace the length of my cheek

His eyes meet my mothers and he loves her all over again

They know nothing, and everything together

Child

Skin, toes, eyes

Blinking at a world, seen in an instant

Continuing to be met forever