Temporary Shelters

I know of men with holes  
who carry wounds  
and place them within wombs. 
They roam about,  
searching for security  
within a woman’s body. 
Because the only place  
they’ve ever felt at home  
was in their mother’s body.  
In longing for that same feeling,  
they search and search and search. 

These men, carry wounds  
and place them within wombs. 
Addicted to the warmth,  
they hope to find shelter within a stranger, 
only to come out feeling colder and emptier.  

The void is not gone. 
The bleeding is still on.  
Temporary shelters  
do not keep you warm forever. 

Credit

Reprinted from A Pathway Through Survival (2021). Copyright © 2021 by Margaret O. Daramola. Used with permission of the author. All rights reserved.