ON A LINE IN SANDBURG

'Where did the blood come from?
Before I bit, before I sucked
The red meat, the blood was there
Nourishing sweetly the roots of hair.'

'The blood came from your mother
By way of the long gut-cord;
You were the pain in her side;
You were born on a blood-dark tide.'

'My mother also was young
Once, but her cheeks were red
Even then. From its hidden source
The hot blood ran on its old course.

Where did the blood come from?'