Luciana Francis’s beautiful poem ‘To The Garden’ likens new parenthood to nurturing a garden. Illustration by Sophie Parsons.

the last word I said before they raised you
to the lights was “stay” then with a touch I bridged the space
I said “welcome to the world”

a world I have barely paved with random steps scraps of paper
and cockles dug out from unsuspecting shores

alone with a bud nipped at the root of me
the only cry I longed for was yours the first
once you were ousted from your kingdom my parent material

nested in the quiet of a white room about to sleep
to the sound of your heart a reverse of roles so to speak
the sudden lights and my feral fear roared “get him out alive!”

the years that come and go
have left me with a beginning
my body now a tree battered by a hasty dawn but happy

that we got out

you from me and me from that Winter when
cloaked by the rain that ran down the face of our window
I did not know yet of our garden

or the roses that would return or the seeds that scatter
in spite of her departure how they go on giving away
their core tiny hearts that break open for Spring

oh the years have come and gone and much is left behind
all Love is scarborne and you
a single blossom to outnumber all tears

 

This poem appeared in The Escape Issue of Popshot Magazine.

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