Hard Work

Labor catches you struggling
Against the sweat it extracts that
You're stone sure you cant pay.
And then the joy of doing
Gets inside your cells and
You wonder how you ever lived
At rest. Even the final push
That sends the baby
Out from the salt sea of your belly
Tears from you a song of satori,
Indivisible from the suffering.

Mary Jane Tenerelli is a poet, freelance writer, and single mother of two small children living on the north shore of Long Island. Her poetry appears in the summer edition of American Muse magazine, as well as in a number of on-line publications, including the current issue of ZuZu's Petals.