Bullet

Was it worth living a full sixteen years
Before your military helmet betrayed you
By a single stray bullet?

Was it sweet to see your Adam’s apple blossom
To let the unguarded seasons fill you to the measure of a man
Only for a chance of lightning
To fell you in an arid land?

Or would it have been better
If I miscarried you
While you were still soft and unformed?

Why does scripture say
For you are dust and to dust you will return?

Were you ever dust to begin with?

Was it dust that kicked inside my womb
On tender, slight mornings
When motherhood was still a lulling dream?

Flesh of my flesh;
Blood of my blood:
The metal that pierced your unfrowned forehead
Shattered to pieces the porcelain of my soul.