13. The Arrival of My Sisters
The Arrival of My Sisters
Each time I was summoned
to my mother’s chambers for a new birth,
I saw fewer aunts than before.
In my childish naivety
I thought that this was because
all immortals delivered easily.
But it was because my mother simply
kept on giving birth;
perpetually there was a fresh new son
nursing at her bosom,
until my father gave her the title
of the Goddess of Nursing too.
That day when I was summoned to her aid,
I knew something was different
about this particular birth.
I walked into my mother’s rooms
and found all my aunts
and even some of my cousins there.
When the first child of three
we pulled from her womb
was a girl, something
deep within my bones
understood that everything
was about to change.