In my fairytale,
you handed me over to strangers
wet from your womb.
They say I sucked a welt
on the outside of my wrist,
not, I suppose,
because I was hungry,
but because my lips
longed for skin.
I crossed my arms, palms to elbows
and held my guts in
rather than let them spill
sorrow of a flung sparrow
from a known nest.
I reached out, time and again,
to fold someone else in
to that holy space
between digits and dearness
but I could not sustain the holding,
nor the held.
I found a line in legal legacy.
It states, you tendered me
motherless at four months.
A week later, there was a letter
that says he was going to retrieve me
if you would only tell who had
taken me from your breast
and hidden me in the fold
of another father.
When we met, you were not
a Fairy Godmother, at all.
I was wrong all along.
We simply held each other,
Mother and child, as if we meant
to take this last walk
as if it were a first.
Author notes
I met my birth mother in October. I met my truths and took the hand my palms had reached for all my life.
In a list
A contest entry
- Open Arms by Elora Danon.
600 points, ended January 3, 2007, 14 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 15 of 15
-
As an adoptee myself I can appreciate this piece more than you can imagine. How wonderful for you to finally come face to face with the woman who bore you. Our mothers remain connected to us deep within the core of ourselves even if we are far from them. Your piece proves just that. Thank you so very much for sharing this sweet journey and best of luck to you.
~Elora~
-
-
thank you, Elora. I thought at best to be able to trace geneology lines with my fingers. I had no idea I would ever be able to actually touch her tears.
-
-
Excellent
I found this poem very moving and uplifting. 'They say I sucked a welt...longed for skin' this stanza is unbelievably powerful. In my opinion this is a wonderful poem.
I have fostered children awaiting adoption and know that most adopted children long to find their birth parents. Thy feel that a part of them is missing until they're found. I have been lucky enough to be reunited with a foster son after sixteen years apart. This has given me enormous joy and hopefully helped him to fill in the gaps of his life. I wish you all the healing that knowing your birth mother can bring.
I have a friend who has searched tirelessly for his birth mother only to find that she had recently passed away. He wanted her to know his forgiveness.
-
-
Oh yes, that is it.... that is exactly it...I wanted her to know my forgiveness.
I am the mother of seven (two adopted) and have fostered ten children...I gathered the woudned and the weakened to me all my life...in this knowing how they might have felt, I have tried to fill thsoe spaces I knew so well. By this, was I a gift to small parts of my world. I spent 23 yers being of service to those who did not have to tell me of their empty places, their wounded places, their angry palces..I could feel them. I read between the lines of their pinched lips, between the folds of crossed arms, and on across the bend of shoulders. There are angels int he world..those maternal figures who know every child is their responsiblity.
-
-
Oh Carol, this was beautiful. You really went deep inside of me with your cries. I have known your search and have been lucky enough to be a part of the happiness that has transpired for you.
I just loved this.
Nor -
-
Oh yes, my dearest friend...ahve we not walked some valleys and hills together? Lord, we have seen some sights...met such strangers...passed by many and stopped to tarry with a few. I am glad we have never let go of hands.
-
-
So beautiful this is...to at last find the open circle of a mother's arms. What else can I add but I am so happy for you that the circle of life lead you there. This poem touches hearts across time and sand - beautiful.
~ Nicolette
-
-
thank you Nicolette...those arms were soemthing a child only fantasizes...not often do we get to ahve such a thing happen...especially at our ages. I foudn out I never had a hole in my soul at all...I was a walking wounded...and it took but that first moment to heal.
-
-
This is so touching and a full bodied poem for a contest that was asking only for arms
-
-
thank you ea....you know the rest of the story that came before and so you also know how important a moment this was.
-
-
Wow very intense writing true flow of emotions a great image I seen this is a very touching write best of luck to you in this contest....
-
-
thank you blondone. This picture was taken ten mintues after I met her.
-
-
"rather than let them spill sorrow of a flung sparrow from a known nest." Sighhh...You pen such magnificence from within your years of sorrow, my Sister...You speak for all adopted children within these mournfully beautiful lines, Sweetie...It touches the very heart & soul of me to read of your thoughts during these times...As the contest asks, "How do you walk through this world?" With dignity, grace & eloquence, dear Lady...Most impressive...Good luck in the contest, Sweetie...
Wanda
-
-
Three of my siblings asked me, "Waht do you hope for with mother?" I answered, "To lay my head on her breast and hear the heartbeat and to touch her skin" There is no way to express the rollercoast ride of emotisn for those two weeks before we all met. The stories...omg..the stories of my birth family would tender the hardest heart. Our circle has one mroe to find, maybe two...and when theya re found...we wil join hands forever in making a family of ourselves.
-
-
How very beautiful, my Sister...
-
-
Adding your comment:
1 - 15 of 15
