Emerging into this place

Ripped from all we know

Stripped of every comfort

We grasp for the Familiar

The dull, consistent beat

Now silenced, replaced

With cacophony

Warm darkness, once cozy

Now cold, piercing.

Light.

Mother we know

Mother provides

Mother is

Gone

In blood. In agony.

Separated

The universe dies

Everything falls away

Is destroyed

By deafening, blinding chaos

Something enters, invading

Breathed in, not given

Oxygen

Breathed out

We claim our voice

Autonomy

Alone

We are held

Close once more but

Different, swaddled

Not carried

Our small body contains

Kinetic energy, tightly bound

Enormous power

It may break free

Our world is gone

Our world is

Lain before us

Larger than before

A familiar voice speaks

Sings

A new voice, from

Within

Thrust out

Shapes and color

Sound

Swimming, swirling

Music, a pillow

Sight. The light

No longer hurts.

Perhaps ending

Begins us