Now for something completely different. A poem for a friend.
I have ten fingers
I have ten toes
My limbs connect to my body
I have two arms
I have two legs
My brain connects to my body
If I have ten fingers
If I have ten toes
Why don’t they feel like my body?
If I have two arms
If I have two legs
Why don’t they move like my body?
I have no pain
The pain is gone
In its place is nothing
If I have no pain
If the pain is gone
Then why can I not feel something?
I have to eat
I have to drink
Neither hungry am I nor thirsty
If I have to eat
If I have to drink
It’s not to slake my desire
I cannot feel
I will not touch
This body that is not mine
If I cannot feel
If I cannot touch
Then why have this body that’s mine?
I have ten fingers
I have ten toes
Growing inside of me
I have two arms
I have two legs
A foetus whose need is me
I will have pain
And when it’s gone
A baby there will be
I will want to eat
I will want to drink
For both my child and me
I will want to feel
I will want to touch
My baby’s pure soft skin
I will count his fingers
I will count her toes
I will caress those arms
I will stroke those legs
I will love the pain
And when it’s gone
He will eat
She will drink
Together we will feel
Together we will touch
Together we will be.
