I have one living son, Justin,
And two daughters: Letisha and Anastasia.
And three dead sons, my first sons,
Who died because they were too small.
I love them as much as I do the
others.
They lived their entire lives within me,
All but a few short, sickly days.
And now I mourn them as I do my other loved ones
passed.
Do not think that time together
Has anything to do with grief.
Flesh of my flesh, they are my children.
I think of them often, as I do my parents,
As I would any souls I
have loved.
The dead whom we love are like trees on a riverbank:
The river flows by, the trees remain.
Three lovely trees, as tall and thick as any of the
others.
Copyright by Nicholas Gordon. Free for personal or non-commercial use.
Video Music: Concatenate. By Damiano Baldoni. Performed
by Damiano Baldoni at the
Free Music Archive under an Attribution license.