It is a sacred rite It is a sacred right It is a maddening career It is a controversial choosing It is an extension of your woman-hood It is a teaching of the totality of Life in too few semesters It is a heart-wrenching loss of control It is a seething curse of protective urges It is a withering of hope with age It is a longing for timelessness It is a longing for less time It is unsettling It is grounding It is everything It is separate It is pain It is grief It is light It is life It is love It is hurt It is silent It is deafening It is hard It is hardening It is softening It is soft It is. Mothering is mine. -Moni Padula copyright 2016