Covalent Bonds
we are
dream carriers
child bearers
those burdens borne
with hope
and intensity
under the gravity
of responsibility
history and
love
not guilt
love
and hope
for those who
will dream
and share
these burdens born
we do not give up
willingly
but attract and repel
balance and share
stronger
in that bond of
love
Copyright © 2018 by Gwen Westerman. Originally published in Rocked by the Waters: Poems of Motherhood (Nodin Press, 2020). Used with the permission of the poet.