Newborn

The waiting was breath held under water, 
the longing a crushing ocean wave,
and the scalpel sharp as moonlight.
At the end of the darkest day, my daughter
smiled pure sunshine, her smell was all I craved,
and her eyes were like planets bright.

She was the centre of of my universe,
she burrowed beneath my skin, engraved
herself onto my heart as tenderly each night
I sang about the secrets of love in words 
that bind us tight.

Kim M. Russell, 16th April 2022
Detail from The Three Ages of Woman by Gustav Klimt

Today our challenge is to write a variation on one of my favourite forms, a sonnet. We are writing curtal sonnets, a form developed by Gerard Manley Hopkins that has eleven lines, instead of the usual fourteen, and the last line is shorter than the ten that precede it. I reworked an old poem.

23 thoughts on “Newborn”

    1. Thank you! The original was written fro my daughter about my grandson when he was born. I changed it my feelings about her when she was born under difficult circumstances.

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  6. Let me just echo all of the previously stated positivity toward your work, and for providing us the Grandmother background. And the Klimt is perfect accompaniment. Wonderful. Thanks.

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  9. You reminded me of the joy and tenderness of those first blessed days. 🙂 I was very impressed that you not only followed the form but the rhyme scheme as well. Touche to you! I tried but I just couldn’t get it to work. I might go back to it later. You inspired me.

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