Comfortable, oh yes comfortable
but how to explain
the other things
the warnings
that there were to be
others like and not like me
that I was not the only one;
even if I would be the light
of all their hopes, they who
will lean over me with
my light on their eyes
and strange human sounds
and there were promises to be made with
the warnings: that
I’d forget all this
and would have to, must
remember with such help
as I might have; so
three solemn promises,
to try to remember
where I come from,
which I need to return to,
and also why; for there may be
little help in this from them
strange, that all this
which is born into me
and which my first smile
tells those who will lean over me,
how could I forget
all this? No wonder
some turn back;
it’s braver, more courageous,
more loving, more adventurous,
than any of you remember,
to be born
so wish me luck of it
Michael Shepherd
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/0009-before-birth-those-who-will-lean-over-me/