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...for christina's mom...

I was born in a storm,
when the earth opened up like a fist unclenching
and swallowed the dark.

My first wails were not in mourning,
not for life lost in a cloud of ash, billowed and blown,
on the day I was born.

You wrapped me, covered me,
sheltered me from the branches that broke,
from the thunder that you heard in your core
on the day that I was born.

And then the skies clear -- yes, autumn leaves settle down.
Warmth turns up the corners of your mouth.
You watch me dance in the puddles that formed
on the day that I was born in the storm.

When night falls,
when the wind howls again and your screams resound:
I will hold you, lift you up.
I will be the calm in the eye of the storm.
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Comments

Jenna Wallace said…
Beautiful, Amber. Thank you for that lovely tribute.
January 13, 2011 at 9:37 AM
Ashley Stone said…
beautiful!! Did you write that!?
January 13, 2011 at 9:51 AM
Leigh Hutchens Burch said…
Yeah, I wrote it. I don't think it's like, THE best piece of work ever written... but I just can't stop thinking about that family, and the irony that Christina was born on 9/11 and then died on such a "nationally tragic" day. It's hard to make sense of it. For me, writing something helped.
January 13, 2011 at 10:37 AM
Unknown said…
This was beautiful!!! You still got it going on Amber. Incredible, just incredible.
January 13, 2011 at 11:43 AM
The displaced Fabulachian said…
this was chilling. Absolutely lovely
January 14, 2011 at 1:02 PM
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