Mixed Feelings

If the absence of light is darkness

Was I born from darkness into light

My eyes, not yet open, did not comprehend

What my mother had done

To her, my feelings minor, her feelings major

To me, who could not see, feeling abandoned in space unfamiliar

Echoes of voices never heard, broken connection

Victim of the knife of separation

I became the object of her shadow

My breath, my cry, the impetus of the tears in her eyes

Empowered by the sounds of my feelings, English not yet learned

I spoke the true language of birth, a language that demanded attention

Attention reverberated through the articulation of communication, only I understood

If the absence of light is darkness

Had my mother been born from darkness into the Light

Did she believe in the Creator with all her might

Resting in His shadow to illuminate her life

Or, was it from darkness to darkness, into this world I came

Oblivious to the Creator and the power of His name

My mother’s feelings minor, my feelings major

Which of our feelings is the greater

 

Inspired by Minor Feelings, Cathy Park Hong

Moffett 2026