"The First Breath, A Cry"
The first breath is always a cry,
A cry --
Of surprise,
Or of dereliction?
An aching, cold,
death-like transition.
When the cord to hold,
Is suddenly cut,
The first breath,
Filling the lungs up
Comes out
With terror,
And wonder too.
Wonder,
Because it means life,
And terror,
Because it must,
Be a cry
"Surprise!"
The Woman gasps her
Joyful birth --
Creation,
In transition and,
The straining,
Longing
Earth;
Mother
Hears her Son --
"Here's your son."
All your hopes made manifest,
Your life bound up in His
And your first breath, too,
Is a cry -- the first breath of the new
Always is.
Dear Earth Mother,
So eagerly waiting,
In birth pains, until now
Through pain and blood appearing,
Revealing
Your Son --
And our Son too
He gives your first breath,
And our breath too.
In His --
All at once,
Everything that is
Breathes,
And cries "Holy,
"Surely,
This is the only,
Son of God"
Earth and human
Flesh and blood,
And divine life too,
Pure and uncut,
Cries out
"Why?
"Elo-I, Elo-I
Lama sabachthan-I?"
Holy words in common tongue
The heart of God squeezed and wrung
Dry,
To distill,
At last,
The first breath,
A cry.