For My Mother

What is blood, really?

Noun: The red liquid that circulates
In the arteries & veins of
Humans & other vertebrate (animals)
Carrying oxygen to
& carbon dioxide from
The tissues of the body.
“Drops of blood”

Synonyms:
Plasma, vital fluid, gore.

But nowhere does it say
Blood is what builds a home.
Nowhere does it say
Blood bonds a mother &
Baby in the womb
Nowhere does it say if blood ceases to
Flow
A bond will cease to grow

Because it is not based solely
On blood alone

I was never fed on breast milk
My mother’s body
Was not strong enough to carry anything
In utero
Her body did not foster
Colostrum but
It appears formula was
Wholesome enough
My bones have never broken
And while I absorbed nutrients from
A woman in Paraguay
My mother was
4,614 miles away writing
Names in a journal
Each one a possibility
For a stranger
Who she already knew as her child

And where was blood then?

My mother didn’t have to push
Not physically
Her water did not break
But neither did her spirit
Days went by in a foreign courtroom
Pleading with a judge
“We will love these babies.”
“Please, let us take them home.”
273 days passed
The longest labor in history
A quiet reminder that
Adoption nor pregnancy
Are pain free.

Both will make you bleed.

But remember, blood is not thicker
Than water.
And either way
A mother is still
A mother.