What we saw was 

the pudgy placeholder for the law

In his uniform, high alert

gun drawn at the suspects

Through the bullhorn they hear the same grim warnings:

Put your hands up

Don’t turn around

Walk  slowly to me

Pantomime of imminent demise 

The laws of physics make the same demands:

Put your hands up…don’t turn around…walk slowly to

The pantomime of imminent demise

Twenty years ago the doctors never read me

The Miranda Rights of motherhood

About the presence or absence of DNA

Arms, feet, a face on the ultrasound they never let me see

Swimming in the dark

Pebbles with new names

Ask God for answers

Hands up…don’t turn around…walk back…

Was this child real enough?

He prophesies 

children from stones

Not unlike dragon teeth

Heart pierced through

So we can all come home

By nightfall.