Page 28 - 2016 Autumn-Winter Issue
P. 28
©jessicahyde/fotolia.com The Visit
by Judith Sullivan
You start to take form in the back of my mind,
Deciding to visit for awhile.
A virtual daughter with smiling cheeks,
Marine blue eyes, sandaled feet,
Beaming forth from my inside.
I grab you tightly
And you do the same.
A howling lets loose
Which cannot be named.
How cool you feel.
How can this be?
Since we’re standing so close,
I’m with you, you’re with me.
I know what is wrong.
You knew all along,
That wishes forsake
No matter how strong.
Retreating ghost child
Before you take leave,
One favor I ask,
An impossible task.
Please enter the places, the motherly spaces,
Allowing my sorrow a moment’s reprieve.
Judith Sullivan is a retired LP, MA in Counseling Psychology who lives in St. Paul, MN. In December of 2001, her 25-year old daughter, Melissa,
suffered a cardiac arrest and died 12 days later. As a result of the sudden and complicated nature of her death, she wrote extensively about the
experience of losing her, her grief as it evolved over almost a decade and specifically the invaluable support she and her husband received from other
people. The culmination of this endeavor resulted in a self-published book entitled, The Terrifying Wind: Seeking Shelter Following the Death of a
Child, in January 2014.
2 8 |We Need Not Walk Alone