The Birth Of Joy Poem by David Abrahams

The gestation of a homecoming
Is twelve months –
Generally.
When you consider the alternative
A short time –
Less than 2 percent
Of the whole.

Twelve months
Laden with night terrors
and sleeplessness.
Shared sorrow -
Sisterhood –
And full of emptiness.

You alternate pride
And anger at his job –
his duty
his calling that can filch a future
fast
– but never at the man -
Lest the last thought of him be other than
The pure brawn and beauty of his love.
And a regret to live alone with
Forever.

Somewhere near that 12 month mark you will stand
Somewhat weak in the knees -
With a pit of fire burning in your stomach –
Expectant for that glimpse of speckled
Grey and green – and the angled features
Of the one you love.
Will you recognize him right away?
Or has the year of dust and blood –
Of lonely girls nights out –
Of memorials –
Of handywoman work –
And dad-mother days
Changed you both to the point
You can’t turn back the clock?

Put aside your fears.
When you catch that glimpse
Of him –
You will birth relief-colored
joy that cannot
Be contained.
He is the man who left you
After all –
And now returns.

DSA June ‘10