(after an article I found in a Sunday newspaper by one of the nuns who cared for the babies in the convent where I was born)
She comes to cradle
in a song,
gentle is the melody that folds back
and continues familiar
like breath new to baby,
uncertainty is not the stuff to serenade,
we can still sway
despite the crosses we’re born to bear,
blue can be breathtaking
like her song,
like broken chains
that have their own charm.
She comes to cradle,
that without name
can still be a son, for a second,
after separation, before selection,
for the length of a song
and she sings it now
and it is familiar.
Damien B. Donnelly
Damien B. Donnelly is a poet whose time is split between hosting and producing the Eat the Storms poetry podcast, painting, and making very good carrot cake. His two poetry collections, Eat the Storms and Stickleback, are both published by The Hedgehog Press. You can follow him on TikTok @eatthestorms.