Nate- When a Baby Dies

Torrential rain stabs at the ground as I stand here still wearing shock like a soldier in war torn uniform So recent was the surgery that removed your lifeless body from mine leaving me newly without you My wound fresh my mind dazed from blood soaking battle I hear the Rabbi speaking and see your little pine coffin as it is lowered into the dirt I know so well your soul that left and your body within it wearing a tiny shirt an embroidered teddy bear sewn on the front I dig the silver shovel into the earth and lift it toward your resting place I toss the cold damp earth gently and as it lands I lean forward for a last sight of you though you can never again be seen and suddenly my words of my love of you become louder than the deafening rain, my silence shattered by my tormented shout beneath our green tented covering flapping in the wind under the sobbing skies Nate; Poetry by Susan M. Walker, 2014