Infants Remembered In Silence (IRIS) - Poems

Now I Know

By Shelley Worley

I never knew, when you lost your child,
What you were going through.
I wasn’t there, I stayed away,
I just deserted you.
I didn’t know the words to say,
I didn’t know the things to do.
I think your pain so frightened me,
I didn’t know how to comfort you.

And then one day, my child died.
You were the first one there.
You quietly stayed by my side, listened,
And held me as I cried.
You didn’t leave, you didn’t go.
The lesson learned is…
Now I know.

Shelley and David Worley’s twin firstborn sons, Jonathan David and Justin Ronald, were born prematurely at 22 weeks and died December 19, 1996. Jonathan weighed 1 pound, 2 ounces, was 28 cm. long and lived 35 minutes. Justin weighed just over 1 pound, was 27 cm. long and was stillborn. Shelley and David have no other surviving children.

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