Photo by: Mandy Stewart Photography
Used with permission
(Here are some key notes for helping to understand this poem:
First, "night and day, moon and sun" are intended to represent the mother and infant in the womb. Both are in very differently paced places, but are still connected.
"The Violinist" is a thought experiment that Judith Jarvis Thomson presents in "A Defense of Abortion." In short, the experiment says that one day you wake up and are connected to a famous violinist. You have to carry this violinist with you for nine months, and if you disconnect him he dies. You might not love him or feel like you owe him anything even though he needs you. Would you disconnect yourself from him?
Lastly, the mention of the name "Roman" is the influence of the beautiful baby above, who's 15 weeks' old and miscarried in this photo. I combined Roman's name with biblical references to the Roman representation of strength, and the Tower of Babel, which signifies the confusion of people's languages that prevented them from communicating effectively with each other. This is how I see the world speaks about abortion, so I hope you take the time to read and think about it.)
Silent may seem the night
Amidst the rumbling of day
Of innocent nature,
Not spite
This Violinist doth play
With a sweetness of sounds
And a movement likely missed
A temperament that knows no bounds
In a dependent coma he cannot himself untwist
A “taker of months”
One Thomson notes
Who has not heard once
The beating which dotes
On the living body
That rests inside
Does this not seem haughty, reader?
For enough have bled and filled to the brim
Let us then bring our attention to this:
To assist the soon-to-be mother
To deter her from this violent hiss
That ends with the death of yet another
The fight for one is a lost battle
Rise the moon and sun
Or fall the Tower of Babel
We must speak the same language
So as to not bring this delicate Roman of strength
Any more unbearable damage
If, however, our ignorance makes us turn our face downcast
Come quick and listen
T’is the cadenza of the Violinist that we will hear last
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