rock me the cradle
was broken before
and warm not these lips
with regret
childless to walk
eternity’s night –
awaiting my sins to forget

wrapped in the darkness
survived by the womb
heaven nowhere
but my sleep
voices inside me
arguing so
and I without reason
or promise
to keep

loneliness dreams
in colors of grace
an almost forgotten shade
forever stood long
by the side of the bed
remembering life
unafraid

where will I go
when all I have left
are questions of
anger and shame
of sacred forgiveness
reserved not for me
demons shall carry
the weight
of my name

take of my slumber
grieving not once –
for a life
filled with reasons to die
curs’ed the ground
where peace finds no rest
as pain reconciled
to goodbye

rock me the cradle
was broken before
and warm not these lips
with regret
childless to walk
eternity’s night –
awaiting these sins to forget

Author’s Note: Inspired in part by

‘I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother’: When Parents Are Afraid of Their Children