a jagged crack
spreads
over a
pulsing crimson
surface
as
new life
seeks to
break through
and
enter
a hostile
world

beating heart
wrapped in
cold
barbed wire
struggling to
restrain
the
new life
wanting
only
to know
birth

head
and
shoulders

elbows
and
arms

emerge

faceless
identity hidden

a
man
lifts himself
from his
prison
of pent up
emotion
and
secret
life

seeking light
but
finding only
dark

stymied

he remains
an inmate
in a world that
says
not yet

not yet

the tale told
by my
silent
tattooed
leg