(To be spoken aloud three times. One stanza for the mother, one
stanza for the baby, and one for both together)

And I turn your blood back to the earth.
I am life.  You are death. And we kiss
Through the fire that is my freedom’s birth.

By the womb of our love’s endlessness,
As you turn my blood back to the earth,
I am death, you are life. And we kiss

Till we move through the deep, giving forth
To the web of our love-woven bliss,
Through the fire that is our freedom’s birth!

First published in Choice Words: Writers on Abortion