Gracie

A whisper in a letter, there you were:

Five years lived, traded among homes a dozen times over,

Parched for family love.

I mothered you instantly, tears and longing –

You could be ours.

Your agents as inquisitors,

You the mishap-ly unclaimed prize,

I eager to prove me yours,

Trying to make us happen.

Meanwhile, photos distant from your watermelon smile,

Poring over your chocolate tresses and searching eyes,

I tracked digitally for the news of your life:

Mom, user. Half-sister, crashed. Cousin, motherless. Grandma, distraught.

Headlines for a fifty-year old, not child.

Oh, your smile!

The news was not news, and unwanted –

You needed peace now, home instantly, no more ifs.

And I answered, late for the call

To be sanctuary.

Oh, Gracie –

I had you in wedding lace, adored,

Grown, belonging, healed and whole,

A rose.

Would that…would that…

Would that I could wrap around you arms –

God’s, family, mine.

I pray

Sweet Grace

For your

Elsewhere haven.

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