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:
Good for you!
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
how fucked up is this blogosphere that this provokes three comments. and everyone loves this blog.
i am going to hell.
Well, It was scary for me to realize that I would not hesitate to kill to protect my child.
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