Cling (Anaphora and Three Word Line Poem)

My grief clings

to your memory

in the alcoves

of my mind

where echoes of

a silent lament

whisper to you

my smothered potential

 whisper to you

my ungraved progeny

and I weep

with dry eyes

and unvoiced remorse,

solely for you

my unfilled arms

solely for you

my blighted soul

solely for you

wholly for me

∞

For intro to poetry, day seven: Anaphora.  Anaphora is a method where words, or cluster of words, are repeated at the beginning of multiple lines of verse in the same poem.

 

I have never had an abortion or had to give up a child.  But I know the grief that persists for some women who have had to make this choice.  And this grief is the stepchild of our culture, who celebrate the act and ignore the regret.  This is my personal epitaph to all the women who spend decades in regret for choices that cannot be undone.  I know so many of you who grieve alone, feeling that you cannot voice your sadness for choices made in your youth, for arms that are empty but did not have to be, for potential that you didn’t see until the perspective of age opened your eyes.  Whether in adoption or abortion, to some, the grief clings, an ever present shadow.

And for you, whoever you are and wherever you are, THANK YOU for giving life to my husband, who epitomizes the renaissance man.  You would be SO proud of him!