Hold

I love my son most when we are alone and he is quiet. I hold him–a heft and thickness to his limbs now that surprises me though I’ve watched him grow, inspected him even, twelve years now–against my chest and the ache of loving him burns through my center like I’ve downed a tequila shot and eaten the lime whole. I want to fold him back into my belly, return him to his point of origin. I could be his chrysalis. I could rebirth him and give him a chance. I could rebirth him and give myself another chance. It’s not romantic, but this special kind of motherhood rarely is. It’s pulsing blood in my jaw and nerves revealed only in the twitch of my eyelid. It’s still shit and drool and too-sharp nails and sometimes bites and lots of shame, and twelve years of tiredness that makes my body ache and all I can do is lay myself on the floor and wait to feel myself again. I’ve read that the center of a star is held together only by the force of its own gravity.