Watching this girl with half-grown fingers Pushing fruit into an unbaked pie And looking at me with a smile of pride Sure she will find approval in my eye I am seized in belly and in chest At my center, lower, and above By that which fabled mothers always have, This fiery, flaming, fierce instinctive love. I would lose anything in her protection: Starve myself so she could eat Take angry bears within my teeth Leap into traffic in the street For her. And I must wonder Because the world is not all innocence If my own mother ever felt this, even once Why she deserted my defense.