Poems by John J. Rosenbaum: Awaiting Birth, Welcome Child, Another Gift, Hope in Sorrow, Little Boy, It was a week before delivery, Birth of New Baby, A Little Girl, So Much There, A Little Boy, and Dear Daughter.
One of the grestest joys in my life was to experience new life coming into and sharing our world with us. Not having existed before and now to exist for all eternity. As a parent it is always a great priviledge to help call then into who they are to be, this include 11 total, 8 adopted. Holding anyone, especially your children with an awareness who they are helps them come to be. Here are several poems on my children and my thoughts and fears at the time.
Awaiting Birth (2 days prior)
11-20-74
Four long years of waiting now
Will soon come to an end,
The many nights of bitter tears
Are part of having been.
A new life is about to start
In our world of love and woe,
Ours is to hammer out a place
For his/her mind and heart to grow.
Our deepest love of strength and joy,
God’s gift to feed the soul,
Our deepest thought to stir the mind
With God’s light to see his/her goal.
A mighty task God blessed on us,
We too so much may grow,
To dream there could be such as Him,
From His gift of faith we know.
To Him each breath of love we’ll give
And teach our child of Him
That life to fullness she may find,
And His joy within may brim.
Peace will fill our happy home
Of fullness we can dream,
The corners, timbers, floor and roof,
Become one without seam.
Welcome Child
11-22-1974
Welcome, Child, your Daddy’s here,
This single day has seemed a year.
This morning barely could I see
So I asked the Lord watch Mom and me.
I felt the anguish not to know
Which way this wondrous day might go.
Cesarean seemed a overtop way
For you to see the light of day.
But now the rest of eventide,
Your Mommy sleeping at my side.
Your crib against the nursery wall
Has melted Daddy nine feet tall,
With strength to hold the world down
That you might find it safe and sound.
Another Gift
11-12-1975
Little special little child,
They gave to us to be our own;
So teensy small whose big sad eyes
Said, someone love me, take me home.
We melted there right on the spot,
Our hearts near burst with ecstasy,
So tentative this sweet small child,
Her heart we’d mend and help her be.
We cherish all these special days;
In gratitude some mom chose life
And God would trust us absolute,
So fills our cups as man and wife.
(Added now nearly 40 years later)
Now mother too she’s filled with life,
A giant spot she does fulfill,
Love shoulder walks, no pretend joy,
Here called to be, life hone’s our skill.
Hope in Sorrow
9-22-1977
It was only the sun coming over the wall
Deep shadows now soften as forms again appear
Morning had come to the first day of fall,
The brilliance had squinting through trying to see clear.
Only a whisper, I heard her soft cry in new light
Full heartfelt deep sorrow now measures her smile;
We mourned the unborn of anticipated delight,
Only comfort, child beat us to new home by a mile.
Little Boy
3-86
Don't get cold my little boy
Put your head on me,
Snuggle up against your Dad;
You're only half past three.
Each day I watch your body grow
And yet you are so small
But glimpse the spirit in your bod'
My little man is tall.
You wear me out with "Daddy why?"
Intent on what I say
You think and touch that spark within
Beyond the protégé.
You transform life for me and Mom
Your eyes resee our world
Life's mystery, love, joy unleashed
From harshness, new unfurled.
We love you precious child and know
You're mighty in the way
Our God has put Himself in you
To touch us every day.
It was a week before delivery
5-9-1986
It was a week before D-day, delivery that is,
And all through the house, excitement was building that a baby was coming.
My wife and I felt the joy of new life
About to fill our life now once again,
But mid-forties told us the dangers and how fragile life is.
With resounding affirmation, the waves of doubt were gradually blown down,
Once crashing now rippled in the shore of our hearts.
We often bold sensed the power between ebb and flow
Content not to fight what time taught to know;
Each child is a pinnacle from life’s undertow,
A concentration of fullness, life’s newness to know.
Birth of New Baby
5-16-86
Past talk of the nurses and doctors at work;
Thought Cesarean Section, what a hard way to go;
Would the baby be well? a boy or a girl?
Please, Mommy, hold on, for your baby to know.
Eight long months of awaiting, critical times,
A life fraught with danger that life started may live.
Mid-forties, diabetic and problems galore,
Deep frightened of dying her all did she give.
The intensity of the moment on which eternity rides
Forms a funnel to focus and a future foretells.
God enters our moment, time stops, “It’s a girl”
Kateri; “She’s healthy”, from fright love up wells.
They hand her to us as they finish their work,
Strapped Mommy may kiss her, she smiles through her tears,
A beautiful child, some heaven on earth;
This day of her birth, today begins all her years.
As blood pressure spirals, deep panic sets in,
A near dozen nurses and doctors appear.
Injections; “stat”, running, half hour drags on
When time again starts, each face shows the fear.
It’s in intensive care for a day or more,
Into both of them they run an IV
But today that’s all done, fears filled in by peace,
She’s love in a blanket, home with mom and me.
A Little Girl
12-15-1987
A little girl God gave to me
A delight in just to watch her be;
Stopping here and going there,
Interest she finds now everywhere.
My eye she’d find, her smile she’d flash,
Hug me too and off she’d dash
But turn to see if I still watched,
Yet lost herself in what she touched.
And often she would take my hand
To open window where we’d stand
And point and chatter lest I’d miss
What filled her soul with happiness.
What mattered most is that I’d be
A part of what she felt for me;
Then all the world to us both came,
Both child and life each other tame.
So Much There
11-1-1988, 7 am (on way to Cleveland)
Her beauty glowed right through her skin
It came from some place deep within,
It flowed translucent through her eyes
Like sun and moon lit earthly skies.
It didn’t evoke wild ecstasy,
Surpassed what I thought beauty be
Her gentleness reached to sublime,
Awareness showed beyond the mind.
An open door to heaven’s store
Each glimpse showed there was more;
She’d sit and rest intensified
All quantifying rules defied.
Not alone I saw her be
Her presence spoke if blind could see
She does not pose, she’s gentle shy,
The unobtrusive finds my eye.
And when she smiles, extrapolate,
Computer crunching can’t relate,
No mind can grasp, no one to ten,
A love this deep we needn’t defend.
She fills me up, she makes my day,
She’s not my only one that way,
To simply be is her delight,
I know she gives with all her might.
She fills the room just standing by
She’s gift to heart I cannot buy
My gift of God she’ll always be,
Next year my little girl turns three.
A Little Boy
5-20-1988 Friday night.
Hold me Mom; I’m just so tired,
I played so hard today.
I know I often made you mad,
Please make my world ok.
I do not try to make you mad,
So much I want to do
In helping you or watching Dad,
I want to do like you.
I see you scared lest I get hurt,
I’m too little, you say, “no”,
My world learns to check things out,
I like when doing so.
It’s not I sit and never move,
You let me do a lot,
But when I see what big ones do,
I wish I weren’t a tot.
But now I’m tired, the world fades,
I love you, you’re the best,
God Himself best touches me
When in your arms I rest.
Dear Daughter
11/22/93
I see you often in my mind
Your childhood days my memory fill,
I often wondered how you'd grow
As other's see yet keep your will.
Your gift of self I watch you find
In learning how another sees,
God's world drew you as you grew,
The taste of truth is effort's fees.
There's much hid close; you pulled the blind
And learned read, see, by love you give
To where you sensed soul poverty;
You felt they too need somehow live.
Life paths, though good, are thistle lined,
Your simple gift not all could see;
But you do see and dare to care,
We bridge build here eternity.
My middle years are redefined
No longer anxious what may be,
I have the gift of passage shared,
Fine young adult I find with me.
Each birthday's wealth we must remind
To grasp your exponential trail,
The image that you're filling up
Our Father's treat in live detail.
Happy 19th Birthday
Love, Dad, 11/22/93
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