In 2016 my wife and I experienced child loss. Though we never got to hold our daughter we love and miss her deeply. This poem is written in her memory.

To Hope

Though I never heard you give the cry that I once gave on entering
A world that you will never know while in a place unending.
A home beyond the veil of tears that I so long to part
That you might hear my love for you and keep it in your heart.

Though I never saw you with a form like that which I do bear
A semblance of a my childhood self that eyes behold up there.
Whilst down below I look to stars where you are now at play,
And wish that you could see my joy, the sun for you this day.

Though I never touched your tender face or felt your softened hair
Or felt your hands pressed up to mine with fingers brown and fair.
If price were set to have all this by crossing river wide
Without a thought I’d surely pay to stand on other side.

That side where you would hear my voice,
That side where you would see my face,
That side where you would take my hand and walk around a wonderland.

But still between us is the veil unmoved by me to no avail,
And from the earth I see the lights that gleam as angels sing our tale.
A father who was powerless to save his little girl,
And then a Father powerful to raise her up becurled.

Sometimes I wish this Father came to lift my longing heart,
And come He does when you I miss with comforts to impart.
That solace in a single word that men like me invoke,
The name which I bestowed on you.
In life.
In death.
Hope.

The image featured in this post, Hope, is by Scotty J. Williams.

This poem is © Scotty J. Williams