the children
we bore in our wombs
but never our arms
the children with whom we never share
milestones, birthdays, photos
sweaty heads resting on a pillow
faces covered with chocolate ice cream
racing to beat a player to the ball
firsts of school, dances, kisses
walks down aisles of graduations, of weddings
no pictures, parties, ceremonies
no baptism, confirmation, communion
they live with us, beside us
we watch their shadow lives unfold
alone
God knitted them in our womb
fearfully and wonderfully made
but the stain of sin
the corruption of creation
kept them from the life they could have had
they are our children
every bit as much as the ones
you place to your breast
send off to school
bandage knees and cool fevered brows
cheer wildly at games
console in your arms
send off into the world
they are our children
living in the shadows of our lives
where we cannot help but imagine
their lives
where we cannot help but store
their hopes and dreams
where we cannot help but mark
their milestones
their photos, their memories,
a scrapbook we can never share
the pages of which we flip through
alone
~Myrtle Bernice Adams
They are real children, real souls, real individuals. They live. God is their God.
ReplyDeleteThey are not some souls that passed through to be reincarnated in some other body. They are our children. They are God's children.
You know that I agree, Gitte. It is hard, though, when it seems the only children who die in the womb who matter to our Church are those who are aborted. Perhaps that is harsh, but it seems that unless a baby takes a breath, then the death of that baby is insignificant to anyone other than its parents. This deeply saddens me.
ReplyDeleteAborted children are murdered, Myrtle. It is another burden for the aborted mother to bear because she aborted her own child. She bears the grief for the "shadow child" and the guilt for the responsibility, plus often the burden of burying all this in the soul. Grief upon grief.
ReplyDeleteWe should see how all this is connected. We know why the Lord had to suffer so much to forgive our sins, we would otherwise hardly dare to hope. Let us all lift our heads for our redemption is near and let our "moderation be known unto all men; the Lord is at hand."
What I meant is that there is so much action around abortion, talking about how those children are rightly important and their loss is grieved publicly, but there is not the same sort of public grief, the same sort of compassion for the loss of life in miscarriage. I did not write that very clearly. Please forgive my carelessness.
ReplyDelete