Conversation at Eighteen

She wanted her tubes tied at eighteen
she knew then she wasn’t meant to be a mother

didn’t have the generosity required
to attend to the needs of another

too many unwanted kids anyway.
“Why contribute to the nightmare?”

At that moment I saw her point of view
coated in the precognitive knowing

of what her future would bring
realizing her years of wasted living

came from being an unwanted child
one who was allowed to be born anyway

living under the burden of inconvenience
an unwanted birth better to have been terminated.

Juxtaposed against my view: if life is given it is 

suppose to be lived regardless of the circumstances,

reasoning extended to handicapped children

and the aged, if they are still breathing there is work to do.

Purpose has not been fulfilled until you breathe

your last, an opportunity at every moment to make

life worthwhile.