Story, Value, and Becoming More Real
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Body and Blood

September 28, 2019

K.C. Ireton



 

Body and Blood

            for A.J.

 

In wedding white I lift laughing lips

to rain, dance my daughter across

grass green and lush and luminous

beneath grey skies and my heart cracks

with the weight of sorrow and

love.

 

In the shower blood

like rivers rages down my legs

till I stand in a sea of scarlet—

my own flesh and blood. Stooping

I gather him, cradle his tiny pink body

in my palm, gaze awed at arms, legs,

spine, dark spots for eyes, earbuds,

nostrils—all of him

smaller than the tip of my

thumb—and still the blood

flows.

 

Later we will wrap him in a cloth,

close him in a tiny tin, bury him

beneath the grass where we danced,

where rain and tears mingle with laughter

and my heart will crack

again. No one told me

how the heart breaks

and breaks and

keeps on breaking,

how love

is like death, only

stronger.

 



The exquisite featured image is from Julie Jablonski and used with her permission for Cultivating and The Cultivating Project. We are grateful and rejoice in celebrating her beautiful work.



 

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  1. Kris says:

    Oh Kimberlee. This leaves me hushed in prayer…

  2. K.C.,
    I have since been greatly comforted, but am one who has known this pain. Our loss was heightened by the sad circumstance of my having given the doctor’s office the tiny body, as they requested it. They disposed of him/her before I knew to ask for it back.
    But what peace in knowing we’ll meet again in new and perfect bodies, one day, eternal in the heavens.
    Denise

  3. K.C. Ireton says:

    Oh Denise, I did not realize this was part of your story. I am so sorry you experienced this loss. I love the last line of your note–so grateful for the promise of that reunion. Love to you, friend.

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