POETRY FROM PUBLIC MEMBERS

1. 'Abortion' by Mary Sharpe
2. 'Abort the Task' by Renai Edwards
3. 'Ballad of the Unborn'
4. 'Abortion' by Kate Hosking (aged 14)
5. 'It's Over!'
6. 'Heart of Mine' A poem on gifting a child through adoption
7. 'Unto Us' by Spike Milligan

"Abortion" by Mary Sharpe

I'm six weeks old today
A birthday treat for me
I have a pair of big, blue eyes
So one day I can see
Where are we going Mommy?
All the rain falling down
When it hits the sidewalk
It makes a funny sound.

Bang go the big doors
All the people dressed in green
If they hurt you Mommy
Just run away and scream
Please keep me Mommy
There goes my face
And last of all, my heart

I loved you my dear parents
Believe me, yes I do
But most of all I thought
That you both loved me too.

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"Abort the Task" by Renai Edwards

It was decided
Not by you
But by Outsiders
For many reasons you were seen
As a mistake
A soon forgotten 'has been'
An inconvienience and hinderance
Not fitting into the sequence
A nuisance and disaster
Blamed for robbing them of laughter
Foetus was your name
But that was just part of the game
To block the truth and ignore the facts
A good conscience was what lacked
Justice was ignored completely
So they could tidy the little matter neatly
Do they know what they've done?
Do they understand even one?
A human being was being created
It should have been celebrated
But instead they listened to society's lies
And followed their own selfish desires

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"Ballad of the Unborn"

My shining feet will never run
On early morning lawn;
My feet were crushed before they had
A chance to greet the dawn.
My fingers now will never stretch
To touch the winning tape;
My race was done before I learned
The smallest steps to take.
My growing height will never be recorded on the wall;
My growth was stopped when I was still,
Unseen, and very small.
My lips and tongue will never tast
The good fruits of the Earth;
For I myself was judged to be
A fruit of little worth.
My eyes will never scan the sky
For my high-flying kite;
For when still blind, destroyed were they
In the black womb of night.
I'll never stand upon a hill
Spring's winds in my hair,
Aborted winds of thought closed in
On motherhood's despair.
I'll never walk the shores of life
Or know the tides of time;
For I was coming but unloved,
And that my only crime.
Nameless am I, a grain of sand
One of the countless dead,
But the deed, that made me ashen grey
Floats on seas of red.

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"Abortion" by Kate Hosking (aged 14)

Mummy, why are you crying so?
I wish I could hug you, don't you know?
I can feel all your pain deep inside me
I'm just like you, if only you could see.

Can't you tell him to go away
He's not my daddy so why let him stay?
He's hurting you again Mummy, isn't he?
Oh mummy, I hurt, why can't you see?

My room, so warm, is now getting cold.
Mum, it's not time, I'm not very old.
I'm yours Mummy, yours not these men in white.
I'm scared, Mummy, scared but I'm going to fight.

Mummy, I'm slipping, catch me please!
These people in white won't let me breathe.
Oh mummy, I wish you could hold me just this one time
My emotions are creeping over me and I'm starting to cry.

Mummy, I thought that you loved me so,
Now I know that's a lie because you let me go.

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"It's Over! "

It's over now - so long ago
'Mistakes are made' they all said so -
The time was wrong
I was so young
'don't get tied down, go have your fun!'...(they said!)

So I forgot...but with the years
Began to wonder at my tears...
Then came the pondering & pain
- I was reliving it all again!
I suffered much but came to see
It was a child! - A PART OF ME!...(my baby!)

But it was easy, at the time
A few hours or so and all was fine!
No one knew, just him and me!
We agreed it wasn't meant to be!
But our child was there - on the way
We were in love - he had no say!
We made a choice, no thoughts of him,
Or even what he may have been!...(my son!)

It's over now - so long ago
But Lord, I wish I had said 'NO!'
He could have been here with me now,
Instead I mourn and wonder how...
...I can face tomorrow...(without him!)

Sweet Lord, be kind and give to me
The grace to know that I can be
FORGIVEN...in your healing love,
And know he's safe with You above...(in Heaven!).

Lord, help us all that we may see
That You give life that they may be
Full of love and joy from You!
...FORGIVE ME LORD,...
Your words are TRUE!...(my Saviour!)

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"Heart of Mine" A poem on gifting a child through adoption

I listened to you, Heart of mine
For nine months of the year
I called you Little Sweethear
Darling, Dumpling, Angel Dear

I loved you more than life itself
I prayed for you each day
And when you came all pink and warm
I gave my heart away

I couldn't bear to lose you
But I couldn't keep you fed
I couldn't be the mom you'd need
So I picked one out instead

I trusted her to do for you
What I coiuldn't do alone
So I kissed your cheek and bid you well
And gave my heart a home

I know that some day you will see
The love that held me tight
To know you had all I could give
And know that I did right

And so I listen still, my heart
Not nine months but all year
And know you know I love you so
You're still my Angel Dear

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"Unto Us" by Spike Milligan

Somewhere at sometime
They committed themselves to me
And so I was!
Tiny in shape
Lusting to live!
I hung in my pulsing cave.

Soon they knew of me
My mother - my father
I had no say in my being
I lived on trust
And love
Tho' I couldn't think
Each part of me was saying
A silent 'Wait for me!
I will bring you love!'

I was taken
Blind, naked, defenceless,
By the hand of one
Whose good name
Was graven on a brass plate
in Wimpole Street,
And dropped on the sterile floor
Of a foot-operated plastic waste bucket.

There was no Queen's Counsel,
To take my brief.
The cot I might have warmed
Stood in Harrod's shop window.
When my passing was told
My father smiled,
No grief filled my empty space.
My death was celebrated
With two tickets to see Danny La Rue
Who was pretending to be a woman
Like my mother was...

by Spike Milligan