Belly of Love

I was once pregnant with desire

Filled with the promise you’d come

Anticipation bound my soul

My heart to excitement succumbed

But this promise you broke—

And instead you ran

My devastated belly of love squandered

Emptied me whole -- flooded

My heart, my soul, my insides

Black – torn apart

With despair

No longer pregnant

With your promise

Neglected there

My loneliness

I could no longer

Bear.

NAOMI COHEN