To A Friend

BS”D

Dear Friend,

I’m taking a minute or two out of my day,

To write you this letter, I hope that’s OK.

I’d like to try to describe these past two years,

The joys the frustrations, the laughter, the tears.

I know that I have not been a very easy friend,

And that I did not take advantage, of the shoulder you did lend.

That many times a word of comfort ended in a fight,

And still you kept on by my side, holding on real tight.

My daughter Rina Miriam was born so sweet and well,

The way that she’d develop, no doctor then could tell.

She started to progress as any child will,

Smiling, cooing, rolling, she never did sit still.

The months went on as slowly, something seemed not right,

Why did she not progress, our daughter, oh, so bright?

We asked the nurse and doctors; they said she would be fine,

“Place her on her stomach; she’ll learn to crawl with time.”

But, as you know, she did not continue to progress,

Instead, in many aspects, she started to regress,

And at the time, your words of comfort,

Caused me, to be more depressed.

Understand please, that this pain, is much like a burn,

Touch it however gently, and you’ll jump in turn.

So, I started pushing friends out of the way

And at the same time wondered why they did not stay.

I did not want to hear that this was a special gift

Hearing that I was unique, did not give me a lift.

“Take the gift and take the glory”,

I did not want to belong to this story.

As time went on I got caught up in my pain,

And, generally, people from comments did refrain.

And yet I wanted acknowledgment of my lot,

Without that awful follow up:” I’ve been in the same spot.”

And as time continued to proceed,

My feeling of pain began to recede.

And as the pain softened,

Our friendship began to mend.

I love my daughter greatly,

I’d never let her go.

I’d like to say the grief has past,

But, that is not quite so.

A time will come, I do believe,

When I’ll feel less, the need to grieve.

But, I’m still at the beginning,

Of the drama that I’m living.

So please bear with me, my dear friend,

Till the time comes when,

We’ll laugh and sing, cry and moan

As we always have,

Dear Friend.

First appeared on:  http://www.raananakollel.org/womans_window_dear_friend.html