First Born

 

Consider the life I quit- the one before you: the empty one

like the dried corners of a corn husk.

An empty shell. 

Now, there is you, and your brothers.

I was made new with each new birthing, 
first comes the shifting of bones, the stretching of skin, the blood loss, 
the head, then the shoulders. 

My heart moves through a tunnel. 
While you nest, each new hour 
fledging burst wet-winged with life. 

I've watched those same shoulders once tiny, broaden to a man's width.
Now when I look at you, I look up, upward towards the sun, the moon, where the stars rest. 
Your face shines down on me. 

This is my grace. 

The grace that saved an empty life. 

Brimming over, my life filled seven times and still; 
you are my Baldr, 

my first love.