We might have wished our children
no pain, but each emotion is a gift
and the fact that they can feel
is testament to who they are

If they can cry
the garden of their life will bloom,
they will have
bright shining after rain,
they will have
deep canyons where their love
carved out spaces
for winds of compassion
to sing through

They will have birds nesting
and creeks running,
frogs and fish and mayflies —
they will have true life,
they will know joy.

©Wendy Mulhern
October 26, 2017