Taking & Giving

When we enter this world we take our first breath and life happens.
We give a scream and everyone knows we've arrived.
We take in nourishment like a voracious thing wholly dependent.
We give meaning to those who begot us, giving purpose to all they live for thereafter.
We take time and attention in unpredictable cycles demanding care all along the way.
We give headaches and heartaches as time passes and inches are added.
We take inordinate energy and support to keep growing, to keep going.
We give worry and fretting to those from whom we've taken so much.
We take in life in sight and sound and taste and touch passing from youth to not.
We give new ideas and creations to whoever will receive them, to whomever we can.
We take in all life and love and find ourselves.
We give our hearts to another and they take it.
In exchange they give us theirs and we take it as our own.
Then the magic happens and it begins again when from our union new life takes its first breath.