Pounamu

Trigger Warning: content in this piece contains references to pregnancy loss.

The slender moon 

Is a lock of your hair

Untouched

Floating

Free

Your breath 

Untaken

Lies in the mouth of the mountain

Buoyed by restless

Spirits.

Your cheek

A shell on the sand

Smooth

Perfect 

Tiny

Your soul is pounamu

Beneath the flowing tears

Of the river

Obscured by the world’s melee 

But heavy 

Within me

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