by Sheila Rowell

Created on: February 22, 2009   Last Updated: February 23, 2009

Lily's Grace in the Rose Garden

On a mid September morning

The emergence of growth

Had reached its peak

Sending a pulsating tremor

Chased by throbs of pain

Through the walls of its hibernating space.

Several months prior

On a night ever so vivid and clear

Tattooed permanently in the memory

Of a young lassie named Lily

Lily was a beautiful soul

Who possessed such compassion for

Others

She was somewhat different than her

Sisters, all five of them,

Not in looks or manners,

But she had a sense of maturity

And poise that was ever so obvious

That it worked against her more than for her

Always sensitive to the needs of others

So caring and polite, just like her mother

Although she was only the tender age of twelve

Her mere elegance made one believe that she

Was much older, for she had also

Matured early physically, and

More rapidly than her siblings

On this one night, that Lily

Could not sleep to save her soul

An uninvited caller

Took what she treasured as gold

Threatened to be harmed dearly

If she ever told a soul

Lily shamefully kept quiet

But was never the same in spirit,

Everyone around her noticed

Immediately for this wonderful

Creature who was always so sweet and caring

Had suddenly become so distant and sometimes cold

Months went by as the life grew inside

Finally her mother questioned Lily

And could not believe that her darling daughter

Had been so sinful, not realizing

That she had been the same until that

Horrible night, when her uninvited

Caller came.

No one could ever know, not a another living soul

For Lily would be an outcast in her

Own home.

So Lily had the baby alone in the fields

And after several days with her baby by her side

Lily discovered the new bundle of joy missing

And began to cry.

Out of no where her mother suddenly appeared

To comfort the distraught child

As she cradled her and whispered in her ear

And softly told her to forget

About the entire episode and come back to the house

But Lily had to know where the

Baby had gone

So, her mother finally told her that

Whenever she felt the need to be

Near her baby, to just enter the garden

And walk towards the last field of roses

And kneel down and pray

For today is the return of your baby

Girl's destiny to heaven where

Angels do stay

But this piece of the garden is yours

Always.

Lily never told a soul about the incident

But her mother knew the truth

But kept it inside, for she

Felt that it was her fault that her husband

Chose to commit such a horrible deed

And that Lily had to endure so much pain.

Lily named her baby Grace Iris Rose

And kneeled down at her resting place

Everyday, until her brother Ed

Found her lying face down with her

Knees still in the dirt.

Lily died alongside her Grace in the Rose Garden

One beautiful September day.

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