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Mother of sorrows
By Joseph R. Veneroso, M.M.
Photos by Sean Sprague
Heart pierced knowing her child
Would one day suffer and she
Would be powerless to defend
Much less help.
Fleeing certain death,
Not knowing where to go or what
Lay ahead and who
Might welcome or reject.
Sick with worry searching
For her lost child
Fearing cruel strangers
Might take or harm
—Or worse.
Face to face, eye to eye
Heart to heart they
Communicate a love-filled
Sorrow no words can express.
If she could but change places
And die instead, her pain and suffering
Would be so much less
Than this anguished vigil.
Lifeless now the body she birthed
Breathless, bruised and broken
One more caress, one final embrace
One long, last letting go.
See how gently, oh so gently, she covers
The cold body with a shroud
As once with swaddling clothes
She wrapped her heart’s treasure.
