Given and Giver

By Darlene Young

Mother-fluids:
Tears and milk and sweat.
Filling and draining, at once,
I thirst.

Hurtling through the day,
Or else meandering.
(Both perilous, both right.)

Haunted and hungry,
Yet blossoming, widening,
I abound as I yearn.

A whole universe
To some, and still
Less than the dust.

Bent forward, I fret,
Bentback to regret.
Waver and wash to and fro.

Careen, sometimes,
With joy or fear,
But still it is a dance.

Ebb and flow,
Enfold and reach,
Wait and watch,
Weep and sing.

Darlene lives in South Jordan, Utah with her five guys and a cat. She serves as the secretary for the Association for Mormon Letters. She recently took up yoga.

W3