Make You

I can’t make you

Naked, crying, hungry, cold

I can’t make you

Laughing, smiling, happy to hold

I can’t make you

I thought I could, I thought it was easy

I’d make you so fast my friends would tease me

I thought I would, I thought before you grew

I’d make you without even saying “I do”

Green, blue, blonde, brown

I can’t make you

Taller, funnier, smarter, tougher

I can’t make you

I thought making you would be joyous fun

I could figure it out when I found the right one

I thought making you would be salty sweat and tears

I would get it done by thirty-five years

Bleeding, cramping, tearing, crying

I can’t make you

Cramping, bleeding, torn, dying

I can’t make you

I thought if everyone can make you, I can too

I thought I was a healthy one, a woman fertile and able

I thought if everyone can make you, I can too

I thought I was a capable one, a mother who’s stable

But

Despite

Everything

I can’t make you

Alecia Gende, DO, CAQ-SM
AAWEP Chair-Elect
Emergency and Sports Medicine
Mayo Clinic Health System
La Crosse, WI