Birthing

For a change of pace, here's a poem I wrote for my niece and her husband as a gift as they were expecting their first baby.

Birthing

What is hidden shall become manifest--
     but not yet.
You are in that pregnant pause before pain
     and the utter, naked vulnerability of birth,
When the body will riot
     and conjoined souls divide
          to create a new strand in the web of life.
It takes courage--
     no one, after all, gives birth with their pants on,
          or is unchanged by the outcome.

So peace to you, Laurel
     as you change the history
          of the world around you,
And peace to Nate as well.
The new is ending the old
     and birthing a new way of being,
          of loving,
               of living.
It won't be long and it will begin--
     but patience.
Today will lead you to tomorrow soon enough.
For now, breathe deep and long,
     calm all fears,
          release control.
It's all part of the journey.