Prayer for a Baby on a Ventilator
for Leah
I pray for lungs that live
like great and green lands
grass embracing fields
and hills like lovers &
winds rushing in from
the sea the latest news
from foreign places riding
their untamed currents &
people like rich blood
traveling the windy lanes
to farms villages towns
never stopping at the pub
or to gab with friends
over ancient stone walls
along the way rushing
always rushing through this
“bounteous world” as Smock
would call it & rendering all
tubes running through you
moot moot moot
20 thoughts on "Prayer for a Baby on a Ventilator "
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This is a beautiful work that evokes much introspection. Thank you for sharing. I think Leah would love it.
Wonderful Lee.
“from foreign places riding
their untamed currents &
people like rich blood”
Yum….meter….yum
P.s. Lee, congratulations on your new book. Yay!
Thanks, Coleman. Hope you get a chance to red it.
Funny story Lee, it came in the mail and kevin swiped it ….lol….I’ll get it back soon 😀
I’ll take Kevin’s pilfering as a compliment.😊
I hear the ancient Irish driving your words…
You do, Rudy. Also England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands. I love all of the British Isles.
The title is perfect. I like the motion in the poem. The rushing! I can feel the wind in the grass.
Lines in this poem, the movements of air throughout, invoke the desire to breathe in deep, absorb the freshness, the world we live in. We hope the baby can someday experience it, too.
A revised version:
I pray for lungs that live
like great and green lands
grass embracing fields
and hills like lovers &
winds rushing in from
the sea the latest news
from foreign places riding
their untamed currents &
people like rich blood
traveling the windy lanes
to farms villages towns
never stopping at the pub
or to gab with friends
over ancient stone walls
along the way rushing
always rushing through this
“bounteous world”
as Smock would call it &
rendering all tubes
running through you
moot moot moot
I love this! The title alone kind of makes me want to cry. Well done!
the way your words are breathing life into the poem, the poem’s winds are blowing life into the baby’s lungs. inspire = to breathe life
Lee, this is exquisite. The heartache. The hope. The anticipation. Wow. Thank you for sharing this with us. A powerful way to start this June.
Strong poem, Lee. I love the headlong aspect of it, the freefall toward the end. The hope & the dread…
The energy flows through this poem like the wished-for air through lungs.
Heart-rending and true. Nice one, pal.
The title caught me and I loved where you took us.
Love your first version and the revisions you made.
Title drew me in immediately.
Brilliant poem.
Incantatory and full of care, Lee.