The Eternal

We aren't born alone
There are many people around us--
parents, doctors, nurses, friends
But woman soon feels set aside into a lonely world
"Shhh, be quiet, be good"
"Don't play in the mud, keep your dress clean"
"That's only for boys"
"If you get good grades, boys won't like you"
"It's so masculine to compete"

We marry for companionship, to fill the empty times
Feel connection in the months of pregnancy but know--
in the split second of birth--that we're alone again
Find our houses ringing with activity and noise
But lonely
What is worse than feeling alone when others
are really there
Or should be

We fill the internal void by ourselves
for so many years
Sending off the children
Burying the men who always die first

Then in the night comes the presence of others
Women who've gone before
Gentle voices now
They tell you and you know
You aren't alone at the end either

This poem was originally self-published in a volume entitled "Sighs From the Voices in My Head," printed by Henson Press, 1997.

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Biography

Having lived many life roles in the American Midwest, almost U.S. retirement age, want to continue reading/research/writing many years, preferably abroad in a new landscape.