after that, Mary sat

me down, took my hand,

and tried to make me understand

the sensation of gestation:

fast and slow…before you know

it’s over; yet a single day

can stretch patience

in a thousand painful ways.

she took my hand and caught my eye

with snatches of a lullaby

that her inner child composed

while sleeping into being.

before we rose

and returned

to cities where the forests burn

she taught me in every human tongue

to nod “let in me your word be done!”