From Start To Finish
The cycle of life
April — My mother comes into heat,
April — As a aging dinosaur, my mother knows this is her one and only chance,
April — The desperate need she feels for her own offspring; just once,
April — She scouts for a suitable mate,
April — Roams afar,
April — Finally, love at first sight.
**
April — The build up,
April — The anticipation increases,
April — The deed is done,
April — Impregnation; I begin.
**
April — Mother discards Father,
April — Searching for the perfect location for a nest,
April — Wandering the barren landscape,
April — Discarding choices,
April — Success!
**
June — Nesting materials are scouted,
June — Mother frantically gathers all she needs,
June — Nest building with engineered precision,
June — Rebuilt over and over again,
June — Perfection.
**
July — Nest redesigned,
July — Prey stalked and killed,
July — Prey’s feathers weaved into the nest,
July — Build completed to Mother’s satisfaction.
**
August — Mother nestles,
August — Nature takes control,
August — Restlessness,
August — Loss of appetite,
August — My birth nears.
**
September — Mother squats comfortably,
September — Hours pass,
September — Straining,
September — Naturally,
September — My egg is laid.
**
September — I freely float against my shell,
September — I feed luxuriously on my nutritious yolk,
September — I grow,
September — Until I fill the entire shell.
**
October — I feel the sun’s warmth through the transparent coating,
October — The membrane snaps,
October — The shell cracks,
October — My fear of the unknown escalates amongst my excitement,
October — My head enters my new world.
**
October — My shell crumbles slowly,
October — Piece by piece falls to the wayside,
October — I rise from the disintegration,
October — Standing upon my newborn legs for the first time.
**
October — I take my first glance at my new, expanded world,
October — My heart breaks,
October — I quiver in shock,
October — Tears explode,
October — Devastation hits hard.
**
October — The loss is felt indelibly,
October — The realisation that I, a baby dinosaur, totally alone,
October — Discovery of my Mother’s carcass outside the nest,
October — Killed by a predator,
October — The day before my official birth,
October — My Mother never got to meet the offspring she so desperately wanted,
October — And I was never to meet the perfect maternal heart she held for me.
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Originally published on Medium
About the Creator
Colleen Millsteed
My first love is poetry — it’s like a desperate need to write, to free up space in my mind, to escape the constant noise in my head. Most of the time the poems write themselves — I’m just the conduit holding the metaphorical pen.
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Comments (4)
My heart broke so much for that little dinosaur 😭😭😭😭😭
oh the misery!
Run, baby...hide
Omg. That is so sad. 😢