‘Intensive Care’

Golden girl under the blue light
small chest rising and falling.
I lift you out of your transparent crib;
you murmur, look at me with a puzzled frown.

I unbutton: you shake your head until
your furious gums lock on. My womb
convulses, remembering we were
two orchids wound upon the same stem.

I thought that like the boy you couldn’t live,
felt again his clutching for breath,
but you persisted, held on tight,
tore at my flesh, demanded love.