Partners in the Process

The building of new families comes at a price;
Parts of our selves, we must sacrifice.
It is a joy that we are now each free to plan
How many children and with which woman or man.

When girls become women, they may choose to gestate;
This comes with the necessity of learning to wait.
They must give over power to someone outside themselves
To protect them while new life, in them, dwells.

Those who are most blessed are kept from harm
In a loving mate's sheltering arms.
But their community also must gather round
To nourish the family as holy ground.

Women must no longer die a little each day
To keep themselves and their children from becoming prey.
There is no more excuse for the martyrdom
That so much of parenting had become.

And if a person has falsely stolen one's soul
We are free to attempt to, once again, become whole.
No longer will the veils that women wore so proud
At the same time become their death shrouds.

We must not accept that women were born to bear pain
While men are born to conquer time and again.
Men make a mistake believing their only worth
Is in fighting for ascendancy on this earth.

If men are partners in pleasure, they must be willing to be
Partners in the process of becoming family.
We are not wolves that need an alpha;
It is time that communities learn to share power.