April is National Poetry Month. To celebrate the beauty of poetry, I am sharing a selection of never before published poems that were written during times of deep sorrow, desolation and sadness after my abortion. You can read the first poem here.

There are countless poems filling our lives with beauty. From the bible to poems, songs, and prayers written by the saints, our faith is more beautiful with the inclusion of poetry. Poetry is so infused in our lives we often don’t realize that the words we are connecting to are in fact, poetry.

The following poem was written after carving pumpkins with my 4 living children. In a moment of deep sorrow, I realized that I had an extra pumpkin, and my lost child was missing, and would never carve a jack-o-lantern with his mommy. Please enjoy “October 9th” by Elizabeth Gillette.

October 9th

Where others see pumpkins and gold leaves burning,

My heart sets upon you, teary eyed,

Yearning.

Children laugh as the pumpkins abound,

And here we are missing you,

all around

Are vacant shadows of what could have been,

And the pain of your death

and life sacrificed

to my sin.