Today I saw a mother give away her baby.

Cradled in a faded cloth, resting on his mother’s hip,

He did not know.

Tired, brown eyes dulled by hopelessness, she wept.
”I cannot feed him.”

He did not know.

“Care for him, love him. Raise him to be a man,” she cried, standing barefoot before her chosen surrogate.

He did not know.

Today, I saw a mother, give away her son.