Emily's Poem...

My daughter, Emily, not quite (but soon to be) 16 wrote this poem.  There are others at her site...a blog called Be Creative.  It's a private blog...and even I (probably most of all "I" being her mom and all) don't have the link.  She read a few of the poems to me yesterday afternoon and I was struck by the depth of thought coming out of someone so young.  Maybe I am just partial because she is my daughter but I thought this was a very good exploration of some of the questions we, as finite human beings, with a limited perspective, ponder. 

It's so weird to comprehend the complexity of a concept stating that
Life can begin in the same place a life has ended

Quick can you vision the sight of the elderly lady surrounded by family, with the outline of her life outlined in the deep lines of her face

And as her long lived life fades into a long lived afternoon
Of sharing memories and crying on the shoulder of the other

And quick another day is no where to be found as this long afternoon
fades into a young couple, awaiting the miracle after nine months of awaiting a miracle

The young father paces the hallway preparing for best case scenario careful not to scare
his quick to panic wife, as he assesses every worst case scenario inside his tired mind

What happens when the long lived lady gets to live even longer and the never lived baby barely gets his first breath, We can't fill our brains with the what if, what then

But when the what if turns into a what now, and a few with better faith, and a few broken hearts
We cannot just blow this off as the circle of life, because the circle of life took a U-turn

And turned straight into a figure eight, and when the baby never takes one breath,
and the old lady gets one to many

The figure eight of life, turns into a scribble on the paper of an eight year old,
that will never learn to color inside the lines,

And the thought sometimes passes his parents thoughts would it of been better if he didn't make it out of the nicu, and you gasp as if you never would of thought the exact same sin

We can't make ourselves mad over lives lived to long, and lives never lived at all because,
the first time you hold a baby in your arms you can't deny the scribble of life dealt a few miracles

I can remember the first time I sat down with a life long battle with good and evil,
and listened to war stories, nodding and crying as if I were there, fighting along with him

I will never forget as long as I live, when I saw that beautiful baby boy smile for the first time,
and when the miracle of a little girl first discovered those toes waving around, belonged to her

The circle of life keeps itself going one day at a time, and as this day is ending,
and my hand gets tired, I am finally realizing,

I cannot predict life, and pretend it goes in an even circle, but I can feel lucky,
I have received a pretty good deal, because this life can be cruel,

And as the long lived life goes into it's final day, and the newborn miracle is breathing on his own, this life is starting to form a circle, and the earth keeps spinning