 After the First There is No Other by Ute Carson "Audience," Vol. 4. No. 2, Fall 2009, World Audience Publishers After your first lover's lips No others taste like creamy chocolate. And you only heed your baby's first calls With the flitting joy of a hummingbird. When you lose a loved one without knowing grief, The emotional umbilical stretches to them but won't break. When a soldier goes to war, After the first fear there is only night dread. After the first death blame is laid on the other, Then numbness camouflages the warring mood. When merciful Lethe drowns guilt, A stranger is born With familiar arms, mouth, eyes, But an iced-over heart.
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