A burdensome Back To School - A poem for those who struggle with back to school pictures

 

It is now the back to school season

With photographs taken at doors

And wide happy smiles in clothes still too big

And kids who are babies no more!

As a woman who longs to have children

This time is so conflicting and tough

For I long to be the one taking photos

As I have waited for long enough!

Each picture is ever so painful

And sometimes it's so hard to breath

As the grief and the sadness they overwhelm

And I think that it might never leave.

Each picture brings a great sense of longing

And so many what-could-have-beens

And I wonder what it must feel like

To be the one inside that scene

But I choose not to sit in the bitterness 

Or the jealousy rising inside

And thank God for each little miracle

On earth or on the other side

And I feel the Lord’s arms bringing comfort 

And hear him whisper so clear

That he knows just how I am feeling 

And that he is drawing near. 

And though the pain is still bubbling

And the grief won't fully go away

I know that I never will be on my own

And that there will be a brighter day.