Sunday, December 21, 2014

The Mother's Wail

The Mother's Wail

I see the worry on your face. 
You are praying that your worry is in vain.
The results are back, and I just want to freeze time.
I want to keep you in "the before",
Before the news, before life was changed forever.
 
The warning shot is given, then the bomb falls
 
The diagnosis
 
The gates open, the panic floods and then...
The sound like no other, the agony expressed in voice
The Mother's Wail
 
I feel it, I want to ease it.
I've been that mother,  I've had the wail.
I sob quietly now as I accompany you on your journey to the depths of despair.
 
The doctor heals. The doctor brings news of recovery,
but not on this day.
On this day, the doctor cries.
 
In the morning as you wake and find that your nightmare is still ongoing,
I pray for you.
I hold your pain right over the scar on my own mother's heart.
 
I want to cry and scream and curse and rage with you at the unfairness.
I want to tell you that you will survive even if a part of you does not.
I want to tell you that you will have joy again even though you can't imagine it right now.
I want you to know that I will ALWAYS remember your child.
 
 
Sincerely,
the doctor with the scarred heart