I am made differently from you.
I have something inside of me
you do not have, and can never have
unless you hold me.
Because of that tiny cradle
of muscle and blood,
I can sing to a baby
before a baby is born
and the baby will hear me.
I am made differently from you.
There is always a place in me
waiting for new life
to take root and grow.
Eternity shines through
the belly of mortality,
the placenta of light shines,
the cord of life thickens,
and the baby begins water-dancing.
I am made differently from you.
The echo of life sings
against your heart—
memory in a bony rib.
Drawn from the earth,
before there was birth,
you slept, and dreaming I
came walking into the world
built by the Maker’s invisible hands.
I am made differently from you!
Give me a name
and you will only begin
to know me.
From me come all the living
from the beginning
until the redemption,
and every soul that sings
a life-song
rocks first in my butterfly-bones,
first in the cradle of life.
I am made differently from you.
Look into my eyes
and see the tiny reflections of yourself—
your babies in my eyes.
Even when I close my eyes,
you are still inside of me,
and life comes from life, new life, alive!—
breathing living water with an open heart,
pulsing in the rhythm of time.
Illustration by