Gabriella (A Third Birthday...Without) Poem by Maurice Harris

Gabriella, I am so sorry I have not been there-
Please do not take this to mean that I do not care!
I love you more than you could imagine possible,
I ponder each day how to make our consort plausible!

I was not there to see you open your first Christmas gift,
Both you and I have been victims of a horrible grift;
Nor was I there to celebrate when you turned one,
One day, you will learn of how this iniquity was done!

When you turned two, again, my absence loomed-
Since last I saw thee, my heart has been entombed!
In just a few more days, you shall become three,
Alas, you shall have to do this not near to me!

So many precious memories did they, from us, abscond-
Lo, they shan't ever take from us our familial bond!

Sikerly my Angel, you are with me everyday, guarded
In mine own heart, as though we two ne'er parted!
I can have this no other way, lest my heart break,
Whence upon ponderance of what they did take;
Each solitary nox, as I lie myself down to sleep,
I pray for God to return you to me, as I unabashedly weep!

I know not how, nor where, nor even when-
Yet, I know that you and I shall be together again;
It is my singular, all-consuming, driving force-
From this injustice, I simply must coerce
What is right and best, for you and I, alone-
As for all others-for their wrongs, they must atone!

Happy Birthday my precious little Angel, and many more-
Until I may celebrate life with you, as it was, before!

Maurice Harris,27 January 2010