Thursday, April 14, 2011

April: deathdays, birthdays - Nesdoly

An April cake for my eight-year-old. © V. Nesdoly
April 14, 2011

Spring. Pink blossoms
pile in boulevard drifts
float in rain rivers along gutters.
In the kitchen a cake
decorated with pastel eggs
and twenty-eight candles...
If, that April, twenty-nine years ago
I had been able to stop the cramps
the doctor to staunch the bleeding
the Doptone to hear
from its cold spot
on my burgeoning belly
a flutter of life
I wouldn't have sobbed
through Easter empty-wombed
but we also wouldn't be lighting
these candles today.

© 2011 by V. Nesdoly

******************

April is a month of many family birthdays. My Dad and Mom were born in April. So were four nieces, a sister-in-law, and my daughter.

I was thinking of my daughter's birthday (which happens to be today) and remembering her actual birth day the other day. Then, for some reason, my thoughts went back even farther to the year before that when I was in hospital, having a miscarriage in April. Pondering the juxtaposition of these two events made me see in a new way how painful and joyful things in our lives often dovetail. It's a bit like Good Friday and Easter.

On the road ahead may you find your deathdays also morph into birthdays as you experience the implications of Christendom's saddest event that changed into its most joyous victory.



3 comments:

Peter Black said...

Violet, a poignant post and poem.
Thank you for bringing your helpful and healthy perspectives to the dovetailing of our joys and sorrows, and the reflection of Good Friday and Easter.
And yes, I agree - April is a great B-Day month! :)

Marcia Lee Laycock said...

Good one, Vi. My youngest was born on Apr. 14th too. :)m

Violet N. said...

Thank you, Peter and Marcia! Sweet, M., that your daughter has the same birthday as my daughter's.

Popular Posts