Sympathetic Labor
.
I saw the
Watery Bag,
Crossed with
Scarlet Streams
In her slender hand.
Empty glistening pools,
Black and red,
Stared back at once
Expectant faces.
Friends whispered
Tender eulogies,
But made no mention
Of the dead.
Rather,
It was the rain
Which swam from
Muddy rivers
To the seas
That gently laid
A child to rest
In distant places.
.
- Lona Gynt, March 1992.
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Posted for dVerse Open Link Night hosted by Linda. Here is the link.
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All rights for text reserved to Lona Gynt, August, 2020.
Wow, such a sad and moving piece. It’s absolutely visceral and it brought some tears to my eyes. Wow…
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thank you Lucy. Much love dear
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Tender, beautiful.
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Thank you
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Very welcome Lona.
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So very sad — and a bit of a gut punch. I’ve been there.
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It was a grief that is so often unrecognized with any normative resolutions, I am sorry that you have been there. Thank you 🙏
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Oh my, your spirit baby.
I imagine she’s holding you in her heavenly glass heart too. So much love to you, my dear.
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Thank you Amaya. This was written at the time of our first pregnancy, we subsequently had 8 pregnancies, 3 survived to term, 2 to adulthood. Each loss is a grief, each one allowed to stay a joy, but they are all blessings
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Thanks for recognizing this unique grief with tenderness. I lost two sisters and my first grandchild to miscarriage…carried in our hearts instead.
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Much love
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This is very moving writing and the imagery shocks but is an issue not always fully spoken about and the grief needs to be shared. You show strength in this and seeing each soul as a blessing.
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Thank you 💕
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Touching, as a loss like this must be.
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Thank you my friend 💕
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A beautiful poem. I can relate. My sweet London. The pain never truly goes away. Time brings peace.
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Yes it does, life is a blessing.
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Oh, this is so sad. If this is written from experience then I am so sorry for your loss and pain.
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Thank you, it was written 28 years ago. I still remember the shift from joy to loss. Other blessings followed but they do not truly diffuse the meaning of a loss.
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Lona, I know about loss all too well and when some people say it fades, I don’t know. I think it just sits back and lets you live a little before popping back up now and again to remind you its there.
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That is so true Christine. 💕
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All of the pain and grief we are expected to bear gets heavy sometimes. You’re right the meaning of such loss is never fully diffused. Love and empathy to you, Lona ❤
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Thank you Lisa
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You are welcome.
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So tender and poignant.
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Thank you Linda 💕
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Touching, sad, and visceral, as Lucy said. A grief that is not always recognized. I’m sorry you and your wife went through this.
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Thank you Merril
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So sorry for the grief this poem represents, and much admiration for your insight and and ability to absorb the blessing of the loss. God bless!
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If we shut ourselves off from grief, then we are shutting ourselves off from so much in life that is meaningful, I am not saying that we should focus on it or live there all the time, but love is the same coin as love, grief happens because there is love or, in this case, expectation. I would trade neither in order to avoid grief. I am not sure if we so much absorb grief as much as simply come to live in its meaning. Thank you Beverley, you are right, there were blessings, even in this corner.
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Very sorry for your loss, Lona. This was a powerful and deeply emotional read. I’ve found grief to be an ongoing process I’m navigating all the time. No matter how much time has past, I’m still navigating. It ebbs and flows. Much love, MW
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that is true, it is with us, we just don;t always travel in it. thank you for your appreciation!
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This is so heavy with sorrow… I wonder if we have the power to mourn as much as is needed.
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I am not sure there is any set amount of mourning for a need, is it a dram or a gallon? What is does the concept of need mean in this context? Is the need accomplished when the grief stops? I don’t think so my dear friend, becasue then we would be trading in love and expectations to let the grief slip away, we don’t have power, that is true, we just are, floating along inside our loves and griefs and joys and losses, right? There was a true heaviness, and sorrow, I read the original drafts, and they were 5 pages long full of dreams about a child slipping away and calling out to me etc. Those were palpable, and heavy, but I am glad I stripped it down to the essence, I think it makes it more universal? I don’t know. It was 28 years ago, and I still hope to get to know the child I expected and wanted to know. It is so strange, but wonderful too. Thank you Bjorn, you are always appreciated here.
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Grief is another form of love and your poem’s pain speaks of the love. Has writing helped you in dark times?
Thank you for sharing this experience so openly and beautifully.
Ali
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yes, and writing also helps me to appreciate the joyous times as well.
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Yes!
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This is absolutely beautiful.
So sorry for your loss, I just wrote a couple things on my page if you’d like to read. I lost my baby two days ago. 💔 you’re welcome to share them. I also have two older ones on my blog I can find for you if you’d like
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