To Ky on his 23rd Birthday
Can you be 23 already?
It seems like only yesterday
I held you in my arms
Your tiny blue hat perched
Atop the innocent face
A baby’s face but already
Oh so wise.
You were born at home
On a mattress in the living room
Without any respirators,
Incubators or the trappings
Of a hospital maternity ward.
There was only me,
Lillian our midwife,
Your mom and a friend with a camera
Who was so amazed and worried
She forgot to take pictures.
You refused to be born at first
Your shoulder wedged on a bone
In your mothers pelvis
“Dystocia” they call it,
As if the weight of the world
Was something you had not yet
Decided you wanted to carry.
When Lillian reached inside and
Moved your shoulder, out you came
But refused to breathe.
It was only when you heard
Your mother crying “Talk to him
Karen, talk to him”
That you took your first breath
Very like a deep breath taken
Before a dive.
You were diving into being.
And once you decided to make
That dive, you did so with
Incredible grace. I did not know then
What an amazing swimmer
You would become.