Doorstep Delivery

Inspired by a poem of the same title by Greg Hall

What was left on my doorstep
Like an abandoned orphan?
Will someone please take care of her,
Claim her and take her home?
But no, years later she was still there
Shivering in the cold
Silent and beyond hunger,
Her big eyes looking at me darkly.
Would I ever pick her up
and take her in?
When, finally it became clear
That no one else would claim her –
Now in a state of near despair myself –
I picked her up and brought her in.
I had to make up for decades of neglect.
I washed and dressed her,
Combed her hair. I nursed and
Rocked and soothed her to sleep.
I cooed over her and named her.
Slowly she softened and began to trust.
Over time she told me everything.
She learned to cry and rage.
I held her while she sobbed and screamed.
Together we shook our fists
and stomped our feet
at the injustice of it all.
Now she is my sweet and sparkling,
Happy and funny little girl.
Hand in hand we walk through life
Sometimes skipping, sometimes stalling,
Finding our way into Love.

Andrea van de Loo