inbuilt/the pains of womanhood

i. the infant sees the sickeningly bright flourescent lights of a dreary operation theatre

when she is born, her mother screaming in pain, she struggles to grasp

the fact that it is over-her challenging ordeal, a test of the human spirit, but her child's has only just begun

a lifetime of broken hearts, debilitating cramps, moods that fluctuate-anger, sadness, despair

as often as the azure butterflies flitting to and from the viridescent leaves of cornflowers aglow in the early light

ii. she enters adolescence, unsure, tepid, hanging onto dregs, remembrances, stolen of childhood innocence

the walls are slippery, her arms tired and she lets go- into the chasm of impending adulthood

the sheets under her are stained red for the very first time, a mark of the womanhood she yearns for

her thoughts overflow, new romances, feelings only hushed and gossiped about in

slumber parties underneath rose-coloured, soft blankets amongst the girls she grows up with

iii. sounds filter through the tension-filled air as the restless, evolved woman approaches motherhood

the bedside monitor beeps unsteadily, wavering, the balance of mortality and those that defy it

ice chips gravitate to her like icarus to the upending sky, some relief from the agony of the miracle of life

a lover stands by, patient as the rain clouds in summer, grasps her sweat-riddled fingers- perhaps it is a fever dream

sedated, calmed down, her daughter, cradled in her lap, swaddled by an adoring gaze- she will be loved, as a woman can