The whole poem.
I was sure when I posted that poem a while back that there had been more to it than that, but I figured it had been lost in fits of paper recycling past. But then the other two handwritten pages turned up in a file basket meant for things like birth certificates, marriage licenses, and such. So here it is, my magnum opus.
I heard you cry in the night
A minute voice in a winter bedroom.
A rare cry from an uncomplaining babe.
I held you to my breast yet you did not nurse,
Needing only to warm your hands on my heart.
In the crook of my arm you slept encircled by the heat of our contentment.
I heard you cry in the night
A hungry voice in the summer night.
A barely waking pair we lay where only I had been
Feeding fading into sleep. Your bed left again vacant as we curled together seamlessly.
I heard you cry in the night
A lonely child in a dim, lonely room
Wakefulness and hunger conspiring to destroy your peace.
We rocked and nodded until the well was dry
But you cried anew as I lay you down alone.
I carried you to my cotton nest
Where you smiled at me in the new day’s light.
I heard you cry in the night
Your frightened voice proclaiming the danger in your mind
As knowledge tinged with inexperience sent images flooding your unseeing eyes.
I held you as you clung to me
Your anchor in an untamed sea.
Again I bear you down the hall to keep you in my heart and arms
Until my morning unfolds with your smile.
I heard you cry in the night
Anger ringing in your voice
Enraged to wake alone once more.
I question you and you reply
You are not hungry, cold, or wt.
We walk together to the welcoming bed
Joined by a tiger talisman to guard us as we sleep.
I hear no crying in the night
No protests ringing down the hall.
Instead a visitor comes unheralded
Announcing quietly her need for comfort.
Or I may wake to find a sleeping child
Sprawled haphazard on the bed
Or tucked up close against my side
Held tight in my unknowing arms.
Dawn illuminates the room
And my seemingly angelic charge.
Copyright Erica Ginter 2014
I heard you cry in the night
A minute voice in a winter bedroom.
A rare cry from an uncomplaining babe.
I held you to my breast yet you did not nurse,
Needing only to warm your hands on my heart.
In the crook of my arm you slept encircled by the heat of our contentment.
I heard you cry in the night
A hungry voice in the summer night.
A barely waking pair we lay where only I had been
Feeding fading into sleep. Your bed left again vacant as we curled together seamlessly.
I heard you cry in the night
A lonely child in a dim, lonely room
Wakefulness and hunger conspiring to destroy your peace.
We rocked and nodded until the well was dry
But you cried anew as I lay you down alone.
I carried you to my cotton nest
Where you smiled at me in the new day’s light.
I heard you cry in the night
Your frightened voice proclaiming the danger in your mind
As knowledge tinged with inexperience sent images flooding your unseeing eyes.
I held you as you clung to me
Your anchor in an untamed sea.
Again I bear you down the hall to keep you in my heart and arms
Until my morning unfolds with your smile.
I heard you cry in the night
Anger ringing in your voice
Enraged to wake alone once more.
I question you and you reply
You are not hungry, cold, or wt.
We walk together to the welcoming bed
Joined by a tiger talisman to guard us as we sleep.
I hear no crying in the night
No protests ringing down the hall.
Instead a visitor comes unheralded
Announcing quietly her need for comfort.
Or I may wake to find a sleeping child
Sprawled haphazard on the bed
Or tucked up close against my side
Held tight in my unknowing arms.
Dawn illuminates the room
And my seemingly angelic charge.
Copyright Erica Ginter 2014