..do you remember your first child?....

..do you remember the joy of having your first child?..if you're the newly crowned father, then, you must remember the anxiety, the cold-sweat, and the endless pacing, with trips outside, to stealthily draw on hastily lit cigarettes..and, often, lighting the butt..speech becomes incoherent..and pulse-rate hits the roof..

..birth of 3rd grandchild, a son, to 2nd daughter, Lina..

..and if you're the newly crowned mother...do you remember the pain and the anguished?..the long, drawn-out cry?...and the relief?..pain interweaving pleasure.. a drowning that gives way to ecstasy and release when your baby is held for your view?..all wet and bloodied?..it is God's gift that came in the form of a miracle..an attestation of His faith in both of you...there are tears in your eyes, but you are unaware..there is a thumping in your heart, but you don't care..as your child snuggles close..seeking your breast..as the glow of motherhood slowly embraces you..

..4th grandson..

..ponder awhile..

...we may now scrape the stars and split atoms..but we cannot controlled our birth..or choose our parents..or how we are to be conceived..such as it is..but once born, it is our right to live...to life..

..4th grandson, being spoonfed air zam-zam..

..and not to be shoved into toilet bowls..thrown into monsoon drains...stuffed in dust-bins where red ants gathered..or casted into shallow rivers like pieces of rags...no...

..a beaming father, sil with 2nd child...

..being born is never requested or pleaded..

..no measure to a mother's love..even in the cat world...

..but once born, it is their right to live...to life...