Procreation

Cretan women, in childbirth, can smother

Raging contractions with the dictamnus

Evergreen, which has the strength of Somnus

To allay anxieties that pother.

A wreath of it in her hair, another

New Luna made the ancients feel anxious:

Diana, they feared, turned her back on us

In eclipsing Juno, her earth mother.

Kronos, once before, had swallowed her deep

Till Metis forced him to blow out his breath.

Yet, while we over Juno’s fate did weep,

Night stood still in its negative death.

Narayana saw our bleak land of sleep

And, in a flash, “Let there be Light,” he saith.

Sonnet VIII