Esme Teresa and Elle Norma: A Lament of Light

At twenty weeks they saw the light— two daughters Esme Teresa and Elle Norma wombed in delight— before the room turned still and gray. A silence swept our joy away. Two tiny souls twin sparks alight a future sky written in their flight— their names floating in ether. “Esme Teresa and Elle Norma” But then the silence fell heavy as stone. the nursery untouched the crib— a garden of dreams unwatered where giggles lay dormant roots never took hold in life’s soft soil . No flutter now beneath Mom’s skin— no song of life no kick within— only the weight of unmade memories… laughter that never danced in the air. Spring cradled their laughter but winter whipped in without warning leaving a landscape barren where warmth once kissed their cheeks. Two heartbeats— once a serenade— now still as the quietest chamber. The doctor bowed the heavens wept Hope lay down where sorrow slept. We cradle the ache a weight too vast— the visions of pink bows and shared giggles. swept away in the stillness of what could have been … We set sail on a sea of glass— but a tempest ripped through our course leaving us adrift lost in waves of sorrow searching for the lighthouse of their laughter. Tomorrow comes— with cradle bare its holy breath not there. And with it the earth will meet them— two daughters born to darkness. We the family hold grief in our arms where life was meant to be. Mom and Dad hold them once then let them go— two stars God summoned veiled in white as snow. And in our hearts they will remain two pink candles that never flickered . carrying the warmth of a love that never took its first breath— yet burned into our being. We speak their names “Esme Teresa and Elle Norma” in prayers trace them on nursery walls and dream of lullabies that Heaven cradles now. where one day we’ll be reunited in joy’s eternal embrace.