Held

Some months ago, a young girl in Norway was the victim of a terrible accident as she crossed the road on her way home from school. By all accounts she should not have survived, but miraculously she did. I do not know her personally but what I read and heard moved me so much I wanted to capture my thoughts and feelings and put them down in words. So here they are:

My little life, so carefree, full of joy
Enveloped in an undisturbed and peaceful cloud of bliss
What could now take this from my gentle hold?
I did not demand the life I have been blessed with
Then suddenly with just my fingertips I clutch it.

A flash, a moment, a horrible cascading
Fears, joys, and dreams and memories shoot through me
Like arrows into my unsuspecting heart
My little body, pounded, bruised and broken
Taken where I have no power to say
Terror floods and fills my very being
Surely this is what it means to die?

Then as all hell would rush to overwhelm me
Something stirs, a warmth I’ve never felt before.
A voice commands the raging storm be silent!
A voice that no one can deny.
And underneath I feel the arms that hold me,
Though they were there before my life was formed.
And in that moment I know I have been enfolded,
By those same hands that formed me at the start.

And now you look upon me lying here alone,
My body crushed and overcome by pain
Your hearts are heavy, aching, sighing, broken
With grief and thoughts of love that can’t be spoken.
I feel, dear hearts, your pain as much as you feel mine,
But please, my loved ones, let yourselves be comforted,
For Angels watch me morning, day and night,
And He who loves us all far more than many Sparrows,
Is closer now than I have ever known.