This week’s piece from Dispatches from New Motherhood is OSCAR, by Rea Kamboua-Broady. The poet addresses her son in intimate, tender terms, expressing her hopes for the future, the pleasure of the present and memory of the past.
Enjoy Rea’s heartfelt poem here.
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Oscar
Rea Kamboua-Broady
My darling son,
Into the world you came,
Bloodshot eyes,
A bewildered look,
Oddly quiet and already curious.
I prayed for you for years
And I loved you before I met you.
My first pain, my first love,
My freedom and my future.
My precious baby,
You have come into this world:
Vulnerable and clueless,
But ready to be.
You are my pride and joy,
For every step you take
I will guide and protect you.
Now, you are barely a boy,
Babbling, walking and dancing,
Happy, brave and kind,
Oblivious to the cruel world we inhabit.
How I wish I could shield you from it.
We hope to instil in you the power
Of love and of humanity.
We look to the Gods above
To guide us as we usher you
Into an exceptional young man.
Oh, dearest child,
We will love whatever way you will be,
For you are ours, and we are yours.
And if we had one wish:
You will remain as happy, kind and brave as you are now,
Our Oscar.
***
Oscar by Rea Kamboua-Broady appears in the Mothership Writers anthology Dispatches from New Motherhood. All 50 pieces from the book will be published here over the year to come, creating an online library of what it really means – right here, right now – to be a new mother.