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Open Poetry #10
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Innocence (A repost from long ago...day of reflections I guess)
| Open Poetry #10 |
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Innocence (A repost from long ago...day of reflections I guess) |
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hoot_owl_rn Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750Glen Hope, PA USA 
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This poem is based on a true story. Several days after the infant girl died, her brother was found in an abandoned lot, dead and stuffed into a suitcase. The mother was charged with both deaths. A sad story that struck me hard enough to write this and has remained with me even years down the road. Innocence Multi-colored bruises cover her skin, dark against the stark whiteness of the walls, the sheets, and me. Motionless and small, she becomes an extension of the many machines keeping her alive. Seizures rack tiny limbs. Spasms controlled by fluids bleed into minuscule veins through which life’s liquid flows. Innocent, she fights for her life while her mother fights the court pleading innocence. Billows fill her lungs, breathing life into death while holding the inevitable off for fractions longer. The rhythm steady; the reverberation like poetry and above it all I hear another sound. Sobs, now clearly heard, and I glance around the room to find the source; before realizing, they are coming from me. What lies behind us and lies before us are small matters compaired to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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| © Copyright 2000 Ruth Kephart - All Rights Reserved | |||
SEA 
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 2000-01-18
Posts 22676with you |
Hoot~ this hurts me so much to read.......my children are my life. How any mother could hurt their babies is beyond me.....sad and painful and emotional write. -SEA |
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Sven
since 1999-11-23
Posts 14937East Lansing, MI USA |
It's amazing the stories that stay with us. . . Sad, very sad. . . ---------------------------------------------------- That which gives light must endure burning --Victor Frankl |
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CocoBaci Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 3043 |
Hoot, a great write LadyPoet and as said above by PoetFriends, a sad tale indeed and I thank you for sharing  Coco PS: your final verse just clung to my heart [This message has been edited by CocoBaci (edited 11-07-2000).] |
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compassion Member
since 2000-11-01
Posts 135USA |
Oh Hoot, How sad, the only one there to shed tears... you!! My-my, that is so sad. But you WERE there crying for her, many would not cared enough. I'm glad you were there and this is written so beautifully. This has humbled me this day, thank you. |
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hoot_owl_rn Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750Glen Hope, PA USA |
Thank you everyone for your kind words although this poem was not written from my own personal experience but another nurses. |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
A heart-wrenching ordeal, hoot....you handled it very well.  |
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Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612Hurricane Alley |
Ruth..to see this day in and day out must be so hard. You and the other nurses in the world are to be commended. This is a tragedy. Well done btw. |
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hoot_owl_rn Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750Glen Hope, PA USA |
Thank you |
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