November 2010 RETURN TO HOME PAGE FEEDBACK

Though you are grown, my child,

I would carry you.

I would lift you up

And bear all that burdens you,

And bear all that weighs you down.

I would take away those acid truths that wound you,

Those truths you blind your mind to,

And make them mine.

There’s no ink of blackest night

I would not drink for you.

No ache

I would not take

Away from you.

No fist of fear that grips your heart

I would not wrap around my own.

There’s no loss,

No death of hope,

No cross

I’d leave for you.

I grieve for you.

As I stand in the shadow of your long loneliness,

I weep.

But in my heart’s secret cave,

I keep

This healing memory.

I see your face

As it was  

When life was new to you.

Awakened from your sweet baby sleep,

You saw me standing there.

Your arms reached up.

You smiled,

And I said,

Yes, my child.

I will carry you.

Mary Kay Finholt lives in Wildwood, Missouri. “If I Could” is her first published poem.