Solstice Child

You who never yet breathed but move in me,
you whose life has begun in the shared space of mine,
in my very body,
I ask you-
if you can stay, please stay.

If you cannot,
know that you were a wonder to me
for what time we were connected.

If your cells break down
and return to my body
instead of becoming your own,
know that I will think of you often
as I live on.

I will count the days you would have walked the earth beside me
if you could have.
And I will thank the land that gave us to each other
in the beginning.