Mother and Daughter Poem

Breathe, breathe.
My breath spirals
like a double helix
reaching into the universe--
My mother. My mother,
the one who gave me form is
within. In and out
endless serpentine curve
as silent
as reptiles taking the sun
rhythmic flux
rise and fall
breathe
heart beat
a single lifetime
this, my womanly form,
interlocked at the elbow
with many lifetimes
and the formless
mystery just outside
the gait of imagination
within this mind,
my mind, my form, my being
created by the mother who created
my mother who is
the universe
as am I.