Oh! The Painful Thought! Poem by Christa van Rooyen

Oh the painful thought

Oh the painful thought: my child is dead!
It burns like a dart in my flesh.
People don't see anything.
Only God knows my suffering!

Days come and nights go,
Shadows grow tall and short.
Behind me, the echo of my work's moving spirit;
and I continue my way to the cross.

But then, a pain poked through my heart!
so much, the brilliance of my life disappeared;
Your child is dead: died a horrible death!
And I clenched my chest due to the pain.

Oh the thunderbolt-thought! ….yes, beloved child!
One flash of lightning scorched your tender body,
but numerous thunderbolts burnt my heart
and left it …. bleeding.

She was so tender, like a butterfly,
She glided lightly about,
A breath of wind could damage her tiny wings
and…what a death she died!

Few children die like this,
only one in ten-thousand!
and oh! …It's my little girl,
witnessed by me…. and died in my arms!

Oh the painful thought: my child is dead!
It burns like a dart in my flesh.
People don't see anything.
Only God knows my suffering!

Christa (2007)
(Translation of: O! Die Pyngedagte! deur Totius)