Giovanni Rivera’s poem To Those I Have Lost appeared here in August 2011.
Death at Birth
By Giovanni Rivera
The feeling was quite eerie
yet I have no set theories
except one:
You can’t hide from misery.
People lie, cheat, steal, and kill
for much less, so yes,
I dare to complain.
Trading off some other life
for my daughter’s might ease the pain.
I had hoped everything
the doctor said was guff.
But I surely found
hope isn’t good enough.
As aggressive tides
began to fall from my eyes
I turned cynical
as my mind tried to find
the opposite of a miracle.
Almost dying changes nothing.
Dying changes everything.
As my daughter waits, everything for nothing
my heart swings.
I see my daughter’s birth
I see my daughter’s worth.
I see my daughter’s death
I realize love
is the most subtle force on earth.
Kids today are old before their time
Mine will stay young forever.
My love for her
even through death cannot be severed.
And then, bad gets worse
as the identical thing happens to her twin.
I always expected to
pick out cribs for my daughters
Yikes, what a sad tale.