Goodbye, sweet fetal child— for you shall die,
Because a mother’s love is also dead:
The hallowed place of nurture where you lie
Shall soon become the ground where blood is shed.
The battle to reject the womanly,
Or motherly, for ‘me, myself and I’
Shall forfeit noble care of progeny
(That greater good): hence hearts have gone awry.
The battlefield where ‘what is hers’ to keep
Claims hedonistic ‘choice’ its weaponry;
But poison, scalpel, pill or force will reap
That bitter fruit, bare yet the casualty.

For those untimely born, it must suffice
That they, not choice, become the sacrifice.

 

Theresa Rodriguez is author of Jesus and Eros: Sonnets, Poems and Songs and is a classical singer and voice teacher who writes for Classical Singer Magazine.

Featured Image: “The Wait and the Reward” by Anna Rose Bain – 30×30″ – oil on linen

 

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The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.


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12 Responses

  2. Elizabeth Greywolf

    The “hallowed place of nurture” is woman’s alone,
    not a nosy neighbor’s, a religious prattler’s, nor any man’s.

    Romanticizing accidental pregnancies as sacred
    when children by the millions go hungry every night
    is beyond harmless ignorance,
    perpetuates world hunger and pointless guilt.
    If you consider it rejection of what is “womanly”
    and call it “hedonistic” choice, then are you stepping up
    to raise the unwanted children women are forced to produce?

    Reply
  5. Al

    Thank you, very much. From my uncle and my grandmother.

    “Open your mouth for the speechless” – God’s Word.

    Reply
    • Durlabh Singh

      I WILL CONTEMPLATE

      Today I will contemplate
      Surges in cosmic memory
      And wind will help me
      In uncovering breaths of universe.

      Pulverising the depths of solitude
      I will find fluidity in great oceans
      Studded with shoals of sun creatures
      Will get adorned in colours of millions.

      Thoughts in flowers amid ornaments
      Will shine like the starry heavens
      Vibrating their silvery tonalities
      In rivers of some great adventures.

      Durlabh Singh

      Reply
  6. Amy Foreman

    Thank you for directing me to this well-written and powerful poem, Theresa. I hope to read more of your poetry in the future!

    Reply
    • Theresa Rodriguez

      Amy, I just recently put together a chapbook of 37 of my sonnets. It is available in ebook form on amazon.com if you search under my name. I hope might enjoy reading them. I have some paper copies as well; if you would like one perhaps you could direct Evan to give me your address and I will mail you one straightaway.

      Reply

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