My Mother in the New Fade, Part 7

my mother quickly became a mother
after her wedding
and eventually had five children
all by c-section

one after the other
so close in age
and yet it seemed
like ages between us
while we grew up
unbridgeable gaps

she treated us and nurtured us
on equal terms
and perhaps that was galling

by the time we were grown up
we really were all the same
except small differences in age
still created great distances

maybe that's what siblings
are supposed to think
and maybe the wisdom of mothers
is not supposed to notice this
and that's something
you're supposed to learn
but don't
and that's your failing

she tried to make music of it
and sometimes all we were
was a cacaphony