Holy Ground

I've never seen anything

So astonishingly beautiful

As your radiant face

Worshiping

Face down 

Bowing in utter submission

Hands open

In complete trust

Tears stream down puffy cheeks

(Mine, not yours)

Little drops finding well-worn rivulets

Of familiar ground 

But really, just barely

This is just barely familiar 

Barely similar

You are laboring there.

In labor.

Deep breaths

Guttural groans

Waves of agonizing pain

Like I did with my babies

The ones who breathed

And cried

And pinked up in the end

This is no passing of tissue

And grieving a lost lifetime 

Imagined for a few weeks

(Which is its own deep, real loss.

Don’t get me wrong.

I sent five lost loves on ahead of me

In that way. 

Each one loved.

And released 

With a name

And many tears.)

But this.

This is different.

Oh, my precious daughter 

You have prepared for

Bought clothes for 

Rearranged life for 

A new life for all of you

Now a family of three

Heart breaking,

You free fall in terror

And trust

Into your Father’s strong arms

Where Deaniebaby already is

You are closer to both now

Than ever

In this sacred space 

© 2025 Laurie Sitterding