Maternal Memory 7G
Poem - by L. P. Melling
The transplant procedure
ends without complication,
a generation of
memories passed
down from
mother to daughter,
duplicated and transferred
from
you to me.
Together we
recover as one;
day by day
your memories take and
become mine,
intertwine with synaptic recall;
RNA transfer
bringing cultural reinforcement
for the place you knew,
the place I know
but will never see.
I defend your village as if it’s my own,
cry in a language you thought I’d never learn,
fall into daydreams of Calcutta’s heat haze.
Family blood spills in war and childbirth, and I
finally appreciate the sacrifices our forefathers made,
that you made and make,
that I took and take for granted.
And my tears
wash away patches of Bengali dirt and hardened hurt,
they pour raw and pure,
and spill with yours.