To My Daughter
Blood of my blood
your name remains unwritten
on church records
school rollbooks
letters of intent
or love or sympathy:
Ariane.
I write it here
a message in a bottle
cast out
with the wild grace
of my hope
all that's left
before your veiled eyes
flickering down the dark
carry it away with them
*
23 comments:
Is this a conceptual post?
Well...no. The baby I lost (June 4th, 1966) MIGHT have been a girl. This is what we would have named her.
Boy, are you speedy! I barely pushed the button!
I understand PB is almost done with his Lullaby....
This made my throat ache with tears. I never lost a baby, but I feel like I am losing my two oldest children - I don't post about it out of concern for their privacy, or maybe its just too hard.
Such beautiful, sad words. Life goes on, but we never forget.
What a touching and tender Post.
Peace, Kai
"blood of my blood"...oh that had me hooked from the start, this was so moving, loosing something precious,esp. when it's ones own babe stays with one forever.
I deduced something like that before I read your comment. Very touching...
Very moving Joyce. XXOO
Can I get a pumkin that cute in CA. :)
Oh this is so terribly sad, but beautiful in its pain. xo
this is so beautiful.. you love lives on forever... i feel it....
Excellent. I love the line, "cast out/with the wild grace/ of my hope.." Funny, i lost a child, too, and always imagined her to be a girl.
It is amazing where this prompt took everyone. I would have never thought of this angle. I am so glad that you did.
PS: I never thought of my poems as self-portraits, as you said on my blog. So clever. You're totally right!
Oh. An unusually fine piece filled with imagination, pain, love and loss. So tender.
Beautiful. As someone who has lost a child as well, I understand how poetry gives us to imagine what might have been.
Thank you for sharing your words.
this is so beautiful and tender. thanks for sharing.
Beautifully wrought - both baby and poem.
I knew immediately.
I had a stillborn little boy whom I had carried for nine months.
After all these years, it still feels as if it were yesterday.
Thank you.
The post was blank when I saw it!
Aha! Then, that would be REALLY FUNNY! I am glad you are reading, slick!
And to the rest of you as well: thanks!
What a wonderful way to remind us of those special people who have been left behind
This poem reminded me of Rachel..Very much here, and in the process of looking for which wood to lose herself in.
It reminded me of the blink before I made her offical, When she was just baby girl...un named. Un fettered. Un leashed.
This is beautiful, Joyce.
Ohhh so beautiful - gave me shivers, Thank YOU!
oh this was a great choice for the message in the bottle prompt. and just how cute is that pumpkin headed baby in the pumpkin patch?
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