Happy Birthday to Me
Another birthday has passed
Thoughts turn to birthmother
Wearied inevitability of the nothingness
Am I tired of wonderment
or just accepting of it?
“When I was just a little girl,
I asked my mother what lies ahead?
Will I be wanted, will I be loved
here’s what my mother said” (personal liberties taken with the lyrics, of course)
Nothing
she said nothing
Well, maybe she said “don’t, can’t, shouldn’t”
instead of “will, can, want”
Aahh…those mothers born
My REAL mother said
“will, want, can”
and she raised a good daughter
one who cries for the absent
but loves the present
I suppose there is still some anger
but a gleam of understanding as well
I am here, I have lived a good life
I have loved and been loved
Happy birthday to me, and thanks from your daughter
©Kim Eun Mi
Young
Please come visit The Lit Pub today, where I am talking about mother-loss and daughter-loss, about stillbirth and my own adoption. Please feel free to leave a comment (every comment earns you a chance to win free Lit Pub swag — tees, books, stickers, bookmarks).
I’m here because your blog is linked on a Korean adoptee blogroll, and because I’m trying to reach out to other Korean adoptees today in an effort to raise awareness about The Lit Pub, which is a gathering place for conversation, a place for connections, a place where readers are introduced to authors.
I hope to see you there.
Yrs,
Molly
P.S. The specific post I’m talking about is here: http://thelitpub.com/chapter-one-the-chronology-of-water/