First Breath Last Breath

When a baby boy is born
     and the midwife
            holds him up
     as he takes
            his first breath,
Place him over
     the mother's face
            so when the baby exhales
     his first breath on Earth
            the mother breathes it.

And when the mother dies
     her middle-aged son
            the baby grew up to be,
     by her side
            his head next to her head,
Follows her breathing with his breath
     as it becomes shorter
            and as the dying mother
     exhales her last breath
            her son inhales it.

Antler
Denver Quarterly
Volume 40, Number 1
2005

Copyright 2005 by the University of Denver,
Denver Colorado, 80208.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.

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