My friend Wood wrote this poem. He recently decided to let his domain name go and shutter the site it was published on, so I felt the need to preserve it here.
If she had not been so loved,
It would not tear so badly.
She did not learn to fear
Or know the world was a bad place.
Just one of those things,
They will say when you are not there,
One of those things that happen
To good people.
And you are good people.
If she was made of affection,
It was reflected in that artless smile
Those first and few steps,
In footage and photographs that remain
That must one day be explained,
That will make your heart fall out.
You are brave,
They will say when you are not there,
You are so terribly brave.
Courage is optional.
Love and grief are not.
If she had not been so loved,
It would not tear so badly.
She lived. She is loved still
Because you are the good people
To whom these things happen.
Sometimes it doesn’t end well.
Sometimes they don’t get better.
Sometimes we survive our children
And will never cease to want them.