Ballad of the Unborn Lyrics

Once there was a doctor
who offered hysterectomies
to every single woman
who he happened to meet

When he met my mother
it was before she had me
he asked if she would
undergo a procedure for free

That would free her
from her biological necessities
he said "there's too many people
i think you will agree."

And one fewer womb
means at least one less mouth to feed
and its not like your children
would likely to be

Special or intresting
or going to change things
its an afternoon in pain
verses a lifetime of ease

And that's how
my mom found out
that life
is not about
having kids
and she could do
whatever she wanted

Free from the strictures
of her reproductive urge
my mother went to school
and she began to learn

Everything she could
taking each subject in its turn
her acumen was only matched
by her intellectual thirst

But like anyone who thinks about it
she began to question the words
of life and she's lived
most everywhere on earth

It occurred to her
she could concoct an immolating curve
but curve it the loosest
usage of that word

Immolating in this instance
that's the important verb
its an afternoon in flames
verses a lifetime of worse

And that's how
my mom found out
that life
is not about
living
but enduring
its conclusion

Its a terrifying moment
mixed with special clarity
especially when its mixed
with homemade chemistry

But my mother saw it
as her own responsibility
to save everyone
as that doctor had once saved me

From experiencing the universe's
grotesque geometry
the dependence of that experience
on the last catastrophe

Or inability to see ourselves
as points in history
unimportant as an aggregate
meaning less individually

Always caught in a mob
or a transient sea
this is the sea that became a stone
that became a person

And that's how
my mom found out
that life
is not about
anything
but escaping
from its pockets

And that's why
you shouldn't mind
anytime
someone dies
or is aborted
or in some way
spared this lesson