This was written around midnight after returning home from a childbirth preparation class. It was not a particularly good time to be writing poetry, but the Powers That Be said to write it then and there, and I sit down and did so. I have learned that if you accept such assignments you will be rewarded with even more difficult assignments; if you do not, the assignments stop coming.
It was published in Mothering magazine, then reprinted at least twice on their initiative. The author of a book on natural childbirth saw one of those issues and, unknown to me, put it in his book. My daughter-in-law, getting ready for her first child, got the book, found the poem, and let me know it was there.
She said it helped.
chant for transition
you ate for two
you slept for two
now you hurt for two
now you have the strength of two
just do it
it hurts because you’re doing it
the more it hurts the more you’re doing it
of course you can do it, just do what you did before
you’re doing it
the baby is on the way
it’s coming
the baby is on the way
coming and coming
the more you hurt, the less the baby hurts
the more you hurt, the less the baby hurts
keep doing it
it’s your baby
nobody else can do it
your baby wants you
no one else will do
if you want your baby to stay with you
stay with it
you can do it
want it to come faster
want it to go deeper
want it to come faster
want it to go deeper
it is coming faster
it is going deeper
keep doing it
this is what a woman can do
this is who
this is how
this is where
this is when
the baby is why
now do it
it can’t go on like this
it doesn’t
it can’t go on like this
it doesn’t
you are, doing it
you are, doing it
there’s nothing else to do but do it
after it’s over it doesn’t hurt
after it’s over you have the baby
you’re doing well
the baby is doing well
the baby is doing well because you’re doing well
keep doing it
you’re doing it
just do it
while you were saying you couldn’t make it
your body was taking it
while you were saying you couldn’t go through with it
your baby was coming through
while you were saying you couldn’t do it
you were proving you could do it
this is how it has to happen
this is how it always happens
this is how it’s happening
keep doing it
get down under the pain
that’s where the baby is
get down, below the pain
that’s where the baby is
the baby is big enough to live
the baby is big enough to hurt
you’re big enough to have the baby
you’re big enough to have the hurt
and still keep doing it
you’re being born yourself
there’s nothing else
you’re being born yourself
there’s nobody else
it feels like dying because it’s being born
it feels like dying because it’s being born
it feels like dying because it’s being born
just do it
one at a time
it’s all right
one at a time
you breathe
one at a time
try it
one at a time
babies come
one at a time
breathe
one at a time
do it
one at a time
you’ll do it
(repeat as necessary)
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