I grew heavy through summer and autumn
and now I bear your death. I feed her,
bathe her, rock her, and change her diapers.
She lifts her small skull, trembling
and tentative. She smiles, spits up, shits
in a toilet, learns to read and multiply.
I watch her grow, prosper, thrive.
She is the darling of her mother’s old age.

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This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 16 Number 3, on page 34
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https://newcriterion.com/issues/1997/11/after-nine-months