Prevernal Bearing
Originally published in
Prevernal Bearing
we met in the woods at the calm of the equinox
when the world hangs suspended at the height of breath
before its warm release—two women winding paths
through cold light, each carrying her heavy expectations
near the shadow’s edge, we looked to the bare limbs,
raw & ready for life to push forth—
she was bartering with Eastre for her own child
& I worried I couldn’t bear the sacrifice for mine.
then, settling into the trough of a sigh, where
stillness lingers before the breath’s return, here—
in that reticent, waiting space—we each conceived
our own ideas of motherhood & how we might be
different this time. before your ribbons of DNA
ever unfurled, before you sprouted hair & limbs,
before those slick, downy heads broke the milkwhite
film, before you dreamed new worlds alive behind
blue translucent lids—your mother loved you
so fiercely, she set to tear you from oblivion.
you were so wanted, woman alone molded you
from clay & the marrow of broken ribs—
before your first thirsty gulps stirred the air,
before your lungs let down, she knew the still, silent
eye of your squall & begged the wind to let her
gather you up, draw you out, breathe you in.
—Sarah Yost
ⓒ Sarah Yost 2023