It seems as though each day I become aware of a new mother that has lost a sweet child. Tonight is no different. What a sacred and sorrowful awareness. As I sit and ponder loss I remember a poem that my dear friend Mindy sent to me the night Jonah died. It is beautiful and brought me a moment of comfort in my darkest longest night.
The Night by Carol Lynn Pearson
Grief
Is a narrow thing,
Tight against
My breath --
Begging an answer
To unanswerable
Death.
I’m remembering
A sunrise.
I saw the bright
Quick streams of light
Sing gold across
The sky.
And it came to me then
How essential
Is the night:
For only from dark
Do we know dawn
At all.
the memory lets
One small solace in.
If we must endure an end
To know the endless --
Oh, gladly
will I let you go:
that when I see you
Standing at the door
To that more
Permanent place,
How quickly
I’ll recognize
The eternal
In your embrace.
Tight against
My breath --
Begging an answer
To unanswerable
Death.
I’m remembering
A sunrise.
I saw the bright
Quick streams of light
Sing gold across
The sky.
And it came to me then
How essential
Is the night:
For only from dark
Do we know dawn
At all.
the memory lets
One small solace in.
If we must endure an end
To know the endless --
Oh, gladly
will I let you go:
that when I see you
Standing at the door
To that more
Permanent place,
How quickly
I’ll recognize
The eternal
In your embrace.
