infant dreams

motherhood. bearing life and borrowing strength, daily. you with your tender crow's feet and gentle laugh lines, how did you raise me? with my controlling little self needing everything. i tremble in your footsteps; you've left me a lineage of love i don't want to destroy. little ones, in need of so much. is my heart large enough to bear years of ache? i'll cry if they fall, bruise tiny knees, scratch the flesh i made... their eyes will scare me, tell me about myself, about this world i've brought them into. guns and roses, acid rain, battle fields and overpopulation... dare i bring them here? climbing the old, blood-stained hill, i crawl to the cross and lay my infant dreams before you. take care of my children.