[For the record... even I find the choice and extent of the metaphor here really rather odd, and kind of intriguing]
I had shed my sheath by then,
absently, like a teenage boy
discarding a condom in a
wastebasket. I had done so
without hesitation; thinking it
no longer necessary, finding
it suddenly uncomfortable,
and feeling, unconsciously but
unquestionably, revolted by
the viscous part of myself that
seemed so needlessly trapped
inside it.
You were so perfect –
and I wanted desperately,
undeniably, entirely,
to press myself, perfectly,
into you.
I, utterly uninhibited
unprotected, exposed,
laid myself bare to your perfection –
complete in my desire to bear
as much of you as you’d offer -
oblivious to any reason
I might wish
otherwise
Until…
I felt the truth grow
inside me as the days passed
to weeks and weeks became
months.
Swollen with expectation,
expanding in ways both
new and terrifying,
I became the womb
where love’s progeny
would linger without benefit
of a name.
And still, unshielded,
vulnerable, apparent,
I carry
your tomorrow
within me
and wait.
Christine Austin Cole
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/pregnant-pause-2/
