GRIEF Poem: We Held You in Time, by Leigh Finnegan-Hosey

Why the cells divided and multiplied the way they did we cannot know – one of many secrets held within the impenetrable darkness of a mother’s womb. But grow you did.

And when the winds they said would come to take you away from us blew, you held fast like a seed clinging stubbornly to the fuzzy head of a dandelion, cotton bud hopes plucked from a vacant lot where only the hardy greens grow.

And suddenly we had time:
time for a life that could not last,
time for lingering and longing,
beautiful, excruciating time.

In that time, we marveled at the cells divided and multiplied,
Devoured each fold of skin, searching for meaning in your silent gravity.
Loved you so hard the pain echoes still.

Eventually, our time ran out.

Now we hold
our breath
and watch the air
for downy dreams
made of unwished wishes.