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First Breath Last Breath
Antler        

When a baby boy is born
     and the midwife
              holds him up
     as he takes
              his first breath,
Place him over
     the Mother’s face
              so when the baby exhales
     his first breath on Earth
              the Mother breathes it.

And when the Mother dies,
    her middle-aged son
             the baby grew up to be—
    by her side,
             his head next to her head—
Follows her breathing with his breath
    as it becomes shorter,
            and as the dying Mother
    exhales her last breath
            her son inhales it.

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