Small Happiness

The birth of a son is cause for celebration;
the birth of a daughter is only a "small happiness."

--John Bryan Starr, Understanding China

For one such as this,
the pangs are no less
nor the first breath
a lesser wonder,

but such a joy's
outstripped by sorrow,
his disapproval,
the scorn of bitter elders.

Such is the small happiness,
the kind that sends her
to the corner with an infant
dressed in swaddling clothes.