Another Child

by Cheryl Anne Merrick

Dreamily the young bride
eagerly looks forward
to having their first baby.

Her thoughts filled with pink booties,
and scented with baby lotion,
she eagerly anticipates 
months filled with
cheerfully decorating the baby’s room
and preparing for their
little bundle of joy.


A couple of years later,
a young mother, filled with love,
decides to have another child.
Her hazy dreams have been blown away
by months of fatigue and nauseousness.
The glowing moment of birth now
also carries memories of fear and pain.

With eyes wide open,
having known both long days and anxious nights,
with ears that have heard both cries and giggles,
with arms that have held and comforted,
with feet that have rushed to rescue,
and a heart that has grown and softened,
the mother welcomes another child.