by Louis Daniel Brodsky
Trilogy
A seismic enterprise, like a low sun rising
Slowly over an eastern horizon,
Enlarges gradually in her belly, growing
In proportion to the life floating inside.
The skin stretches taut as raw light
Spanning dawn, goes loose like blue rain
Flowing smoothly through Steuben glass.
Slight movements motivated from within
Change the basic shape. Rearrangements
Become transitory as refracting atoms
As the being drives actively toward peace
With a world shrinking by subtle degrees.
Finally, all motion ceases, and silence
Divides like ocean waves breaking close.
A child rides in upon the high tide,
Exploding against our beach, crying,
As though from relief, at arriving
From a journey taking many millenniums.
We gaze in not-quite-total disbelief
At an abstract fleshed into reality:
Two separate identities fused by love,
Split once, then divided again
Before being guaranteed to the third
In a covenant of pure earthly worship.
Summary:
Trilogy: A Birth Cycle, a volume of eighteen chronologically arranged pieces, is a gentle recollection of one couple’s first experiences with conception, pregnancy, and childbirth, exploring their fears, hopes, and joys as they face impending parenthood and the "covenant of pure earthly worship" they form as a new family.
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