Lifeline

1.
she won't stop screaming
the air she breathes is red
the air she breathes is

blue

light holds her binds her
red light blinds her
particles and molecules

the ache of birth

2.
the doctor notes the time
ungloves his hands removes
the thin green gown and mask and says

a thing of beauty, wild,
born to pain

3.
so we're all born to pain
I say to myself
picking up the first burnt pot

but why after 43 years this infant
like metal scratched on steel
comes calling in the third bloody

person as if screams, scrubbing
words, distance, could connect
this wired kid to me

too tired, wise and nearly
beyond compassion
to heed what once were cries