Meconium

Webster’s New World Dictionary defines meconium as: 1. Orig. poppy juice. {Gr. Mekonion or mekon, poppy.} 2. The greenish fecal matter in a fetus, forming the first bowel movement of a newborn infant.

November’s roses with thorns that tear,
thin as kittens claws,
Love silken and kissed with night
I tug at them all. The remnants of summer,
when light was easy to fill your,
eyes. You would prefer I pick,
poppy-red. White milk pumped,
through brittle stalks. Black seeds to litter,
my loose bouquet of November’s lasting fruits,
rosehip's and rosemary. In ancient houses,
chandeliers reflect gold in gilded mirrors,
our forever in rows of white reflections.
I recall being there once in a thought,
at an alter to your heart.
With white fingers and brittle nails,
I held your perfect baby toes and wept.
Tears run free over my lips,
my body braces in remembrance,
of your birth and the fight we made.
Connections that ache.
This November we both wander,
without our umbilical tie,
A streak of meconium,
stained your first breath,
I dread your last. Under,
November’s silver stars I walk,
gathering a spray of falls bounty,
while you birth your pain alone.

Written by me several years ago, previously published in RAIN MAGAZINE
Photo Credit: Pierre BEST/unsplash