BTT #72: Sympathetic Labor

On By Lona GyntIn Eulogy, Poetry

Sympathetic Labor

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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.

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  • 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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On This Day…

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All rights for text reserved to Lona Gynt, August, 2020.

Above Photo by Lona Gynt, All rights reserved. First Image from ETSY, here is the link. https://www.etsy.com/listing/692289473/ready-to-ship-ooak-56-week-gestation?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=miscarriage+memorial&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&bes=1

37 thoughts on “BTT #72: Sympathetic Labor”

    1. 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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      1. 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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    1. 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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  14. 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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    1. 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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