Little darling,
you will hear these stories as you grow
of how you were born at a time
when the world as I knew it fell
and unseen powers waged war
How the days lengthened into months
as nurses ran from bed to bed
in slow motion under fluorescent lights
to a soundtrack of cries and coughs

How the rich lived with doors closed
and the poor could not breathe outside
how some gave up everything they had
so that another could see tomorrow

How I feared for you looking at numbers
watching even the strongest break
as heartless regimes plundered what was left
leaving nothing in their wake

How we learnt to hold hands across distances
to speak through our eyes
to stop and wonder where we were
what a miracle it was to be alive

How I stood unsure when fear arrived
but faced it, every day in the dark
how I loved you better for all of it
for the hope you bring to my life.