New babies, old ladies - have no souls to sell
But bureaucracy prolongs their damnation
that is, until the liberal visitor
appears at a daughters High School graduation

Once strong, vibrant and full of life
once able to feel it, breath it
without latex, lab tests or strife

Now pain and despair caress every hair
as mothers cry while they helplessly watch
life leave their child's eyes

consumed by pain and burdened by shame
there's not time to make cakes

that death and despair do not discriminate
nor feel any guilt, as it cheerfully adds our names to The Quilt

as red tape binds red ribbons
stiff and smooth on dirty lapels

©L.Monique