Betty Jo Hilger Poems

Full within the center of my eye
Hanging as a crown above the stars
A world apart
A separate heart
...

As the dark lay heavy on the night
As breath like birth pains breathed
As heartbeats stilled
As concepts flew
...

Startling to awareness
Unspoken thought takes charge
Churning through silent peace
Seizing breath and heart
...

My agony is locked away,
and guilty in my peace.
My heart burns with flames
of nourished rage and dread
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I travel looking back on favorite memories,
And often see your eyes there looking back at me.
It wasn’t long ago when you were small enough
To lay upon my chest to drift and dream.
...

Was it just yesterday when we all felt at peace
with unremitting joy, as you slipped off to sleep?
Or was it years ago, before you learned to speak
when silence hid your pain beneath a veil of grief?
...

In a dark sky,
the unbroken blackness covers all the world
with an envelope of comfort and velvet safety,
hidden from the brightness of the day
...

A single tear falls

For the child who has learned that love hurts
That when you trust, they fail
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He stood, waving, at the door
With his tiny hand motioning toward his chest
Two simple words, powerfully uttered
Seize her heartstrings, grasping with a hopeful grip…
...

He woke in the night to a silent house
Not a sound was heard but soft breathing
He did not feel safe
Who were these people?
...