Their Ages - Rebecca del Rio

[Larry Robinson]

Their Ages

A miscarriage is a natural and common event. All told, probably more women have lost a child from this world than haven't. Most don't mention it, and they go on from day to day as if it hadn't happened, so people imagine a woman in this situation never really knew or loved what she had.
But ask her sometime: how old would your child be now? And she'll know.
Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams

You grew up with three
Angel brothers and sisters.
My only child, I sought
To reassure me, you that
You were not alone.

Nathan, Leah and Lily 
I named them. 
Today Nathan would be 44,
Leah, 35 and Lily soon-to-be 30. 
All three were lost in an unwanted
Gush of blood and pain, that sadly,

Even your birth and good life
Cannot mute. 
I kept them alive 
In my heart and yours,
Though their visage remained
Invisible. You grew

Before my eyes, beautiful,
Carnal, and complete. You grew 
Surrounded by angels,
All that they might have been. 

Losing what might have been 
Is loss, too. Invisible
Like a quiet disease. 
A future frustrated or denied
Can fester in a heart,
Can rot a psyche
Unless mourned
For all its unmoored dreams.

So I named my babies,
Grieved my angels. I gave
Their memory to you
To walk with you in
The loneliness that is Life.
I kept them alive and
I always know their ages.

	- Rebecca del Rio

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/poetrylovers/attachments/20170717/d911d0e1/attachment.html>