Nothing Could Stop You

Nothing could stop you.

Not the best day.

Not the quiet.

Not the ocean rocking.

You went on with your dying.

Not the trees under which you walked,

not the trees that shaded you...

When you played with children

you went on with your dying.

When you sat down to eat,

When you woke up at night, wet with tears,

your body sobbing.

You went on with your dying.

Nothing could stop you.

Not the past.

Not the future...

Not defeat. Not success...

You lay on the bed.

You folded your arms over your chest

and you dreamed of the world without you.

Of the space under the trees.

Of the space in your room.

Of the spaces that would now be empty of you.

And you went on with your dying.

Nothing could stop you.

Not your breathing. Not your life.

Not the life you wanted.

Not the life you had.

Nothing could stop you.

~ Mark Strand

in spite of everything that was good and beautiful
and gracious and pure,
or awful and hard-fought
yet risen above and conquered by the heart,
she died

erin, our precious child, died
it happened
nine months ago today

we loved her to pieces
and still, she died

that world where she played and lived,
the familiar places of which she dreamt while she rested
and waited to pass to the next,
the world, that she knew would exist without her,
is indeed existing without her

but those spaces are everywhere,
and the lack of her presence in them
screams in the emptiness

no erin, nothing could stop you...