Three Lined Verses On The Birth Of My First Child

Legs strapped
to the delivery table
like a wish bone

my heart strapped
to my wife’s rib
making a wish

the doctor’s holding
the baby’s head
like a short prayer

“It’s a boy”
echoes in my throat
but I can’t shout!

Tossed as if a leaf
Into the arms of four nurses
I cut the umbilical cord

Father, Dad
words that stand
at the head of the table