Infants Remembered In Silence (IRIS) - Poems - Cuddled in the Lord's Embrace

Cuddled in the Lord's Embrace

In Loving Memory of Kilian Richard Donahue, Born December 22, 2003, Entered Heaven on December 25, 2003

Six stockings by the wall,
little footsteps in the hall.
Every year we change and grow,
add a stocking to the row.

But this year our heads are bowed:
one dear smile is missing now.
How can we have Christmas joy
without our laughing, teasing boy?

In Bethlehem, the babe's still born,
the angels sing on Christmas morn.
But just beyond, already stands
the cross: its shadow fills the land.

The cradle's there, and then the cross;
my son's my gain, and then my loss.
We shun the deaths, and love the births--
but Jesus' death gave hope to earth.

That death upon the ancient cross,
the empty tomb, the sense of loss,
turned suddenly to bright sunrise,
eternal hope for one who dies.

And now I try to understand
the wonders he knows in that land.
Does heaven ring with his great laugh?
Does his ball bounce down golden paths?

I know he's looked in Jesus' eyes,
no more his sorrows make him cry.
No more fears for him to face,
he's cuddled in the Lord's embrace.

We just dream, by the Christmas tree
of things that he can really see;
he's home for Christmas; we're away.
His joy is full this Christmas Day.

Adapted by Jessie Donahue

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