Pregnant

From two lines
instead of one
read in the window of a little white stick.


Just married,
barely grown;
a new life ahead,
an old one behind.


One last smoke,
I'll be good to my babe.
Other decisions will have to wait.


No honeymoon,
no newlywed year;
we're starting a family.
A family!


It's all a shock,
but there's no time to feel it.
We mustn't be selfish,
we cannot regret.


We're not home.
No loved ones round here.
No one to encourage,
no one to understand.
Everyone else
are youths, as we.
What can a young family glean from them?


Afraid? We cannot be.
There is someone about to arrive.
He will need us to be strong.


Oh, Lord!
May we be strong!
?