WHEN I W AS ONE AND TWENTY

When I was one and twenty

On that exact birthday

I was a very pregnant woman

Birth just thirteen days away.

Delivery of our firstborn

Was a monumental

Task for me

But his father’s chest

Grew broader

Showing off our baby

For the neighborhood

To see.

Young and eager, every morning

Off to work for stuffy bankers.

Lithe and slender, walking briskly

High heels tapping, hips a-swaying

Hair ablaze with morning sunlight.

Add a husband and an infant

Each brought challenges

And delight

Yet, sometimes

I sorely missed

The laughing, happy

Friendliness I’d left behind.

When I was one and twenty

I set my course to be

A steadfast wife

And mother

For the entire world to see.

In love, in truth, in trust

A foundation was

Being laid

To see me though

The later trials

Life would send my way. 

                                Rachel Nemitz, March 2013