Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Animal

We are in the grocery store.

You are teething; mouth swollen and bruised
but we are in reprieve and you are laughing.

I am warmth and you are mine.

She walks toward us with a cold blue stare I chide my judgement and offer a smile
She swoops in as I am distracted

She
sends
cruel words
in your direction.

Your face.
Perplexed.
I wait for your sweet eyes to crumple.
They don't.

Before that happens I stop being human.
I stop being
wife
daughter
sister
friend

who loves

artichokes
music
deep breaths
what is right
wine
open fields
and sunshine

and I am only
animal
mother

who sees a threat
harm

I lose everything to this one realization:

I would kill
to protect you.

I am alarmed and distracted and raw
and cannot compose an appropriate response

Instead I think I roar
only like the mother that I am.

We lock eyes, she and I.
Try as I might, I cannot pull my message away.

4 comments:

Daryl said...

Good for you!

Anonymous said...

I talk about this with my friends all the time. I still remember when I first had this experience of someone presenting a threat to my child. It was scary for me to realize that I would not hesitate to kill to protect my child.

On the other hand, it made me worry less about the fate of my child.

PS I didn't actually kill anyone. I just was ready to.

Ursula

freckletree said...

how fucked up is this blogosphere that this provokes three comments. and everyone loves this blog.

i am going to hell.

Elizabeth said...

Well, It was scary for me to realize that I would not hesitate to kill to protect my child.