WHENCE COMETH THE CUCKOO?

The Cuckoo's Child
As an unborn child, you fluttered
like a caged bird, practicing to
disrobe yourself of my fleshly husk.
Even before fully formed, my child,
you struggled to redefine your
boundaries, while yet confined
by the walls of the nest.

Nature decreed expansion
as you mindlessly attacked both
the source of your nourishment
and of your confinement.

Even as motherly instinct
compelled me to feed you,
I did not shape the egg,
as you did not choose your parent.
I understood only as you fledged;
you are a foreign species.
You are a cuckoo’s child.

By Ruth Zachary Written in 1976


The name of this blog and this project was taken from this poem.


All images and writing are the copyright © of Ruth Zachary, unless otherwise attributed.