Another Good Death

author’s note:

I think I’ve used this title at least once before...

Maybe I’m repeating myself.  But I prefer to think I’m creating a motif.


ANOTHER GOOD DEATH

Another husk falls
from my chest--

this death: a birth.
A harvest.
An accomplishment
of determined labor

that I vow to always honor
by remembering its long history

though I prick my fingertips
whenever I touch that thorny cast.

Oh, but the shell served me well!

Without its suffocation
I would not have needed
to fight so hard for freedom--
I would not
have found this strength.

So please, no pity.

But I will accept your empathy:

to know you also know
the pain and joy of such death
eases the lingering sting of birth
because I no longer feel
so alone in this work.

© 2020, Michael R. Patton

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