On The Same Journey Poem by RIC BASTASA

how can the rest of the clan
forget you?

when you first arrived here
we heard you cry
from morning till nighttime

your mother had a hard time
tricking you into a comforting silence
with a hum
and then a lullaby
and then a hug as she buried your face
into her bosom

and then as common animal instinct would have it
you began to suck the nipples of
life and sucked it so well
like a greedy
insect to the nectar of the flower
in May

milk was such a taste that finally
brought you to a contract for life

we did the same and so we understood
everything

our fathers recalled it for us
because we too had
thoroughly
forgotten