Nights and days, days and nights;
Weeks, months, and years gave me no delight.
The garden of my womb remained barren
While buds blossomed all around.
Deserted by happiness, tears swallowed me.
Unbeknownst; anger and jealousy became a part of me.
I cried and prayed, prayed and cried,
but the heavens remained deaf, and countless times I died.
Many a time, my wrist brushed against a cold knife.
Nothing could ever fill the void in my life.
Boy, oh, boy! How wrong was I!
I did not know then; love is limitless and vast as the sky.
Happy tears squeezed my heart, filling the void that threatened to tear me apart.
A little shrivelled bundle nestled in my arm; she was all I ever needed,
my lucky charm, my soothing balm.
Holding her close, I felt alive for the first time ever,
The lack of shared genes didn’t make me less of a mother.
The barren garden dances with hopes of a future better.
Strings of our hearts have tied us together.
An innocent gurgle, a frail cry, her fragrance wafting in the room.
At times, I fear that this might all be just a dream.
But every time I look into her innocent eyes; I know for sure,
It was not a dream; it was a dream come true.
This poem received a Jury Special Mention at the January 2023 Writing Challenge on the BTB platform.