First Birthday (love song for a baby)

You came to me from a distant land
The secret place of my innermost being
You traveled miles and miles
To find me

You came in the space between my two greatest sorrows.

When the lamp of my womb went out, suddenly
Leaving me with a cold-wind feeling
Like the door to every chamber of my heart
Had been left blowing open on a long, cold, winter night
Your little life brought light
And warmth.
And joy, welling up

I sang through your birth.
In the raging waters
I reached up for mercy with song
And the hand of God reached back
And pulled me out of the storm
And set my feet to walk
Upon the waters
I turned my back on fear
I saw your face
And it changed me forever

I could never explain to you what it meant to me
To hold you
In my arms and
Close to my heart
As I stood with my brothers and sisters
around the bed of my beautiful dying Mother.
You were there with me.
You gave me courage
and hope
and a reason to be brave
To laugh and cry
At the same time
Your little head,
Resting on my chest
Was a comfort
That could penetrate
The heaviness of grief
When I lingered too deeply in the waters of sorrow,
That look in your dear little eyes
Could call me
instantly
back home.

You are a miracle.

Little one,
Your life is the thread
In the hand of God
Stitching these hollow
Aching holes
Closed

I longed
For so many years
To see your face.
I travelled far to find you.
You were the whisper of a promise
A secret longing
A hope that kept me going
When I thought I could not go on.
And now you are
quietly sleeping in the other room
My sweetest heart
Adored by all who have ever known you