4

Four Days

---

Four days

Four days to say hello to the twin who was born, and breathed, but was never going to leave the hospital

Four days for twins who for thirty eight weeks had shared a womb, to share a room

Strong kicks and weak pushes

Four days while one twin thrived and the other failed gently as we knew he would

Four days suspended in the space between the gingerly anticipated and the actual

Hungry boy and hungerless boy

And on the fourth day, the privilege of just being with him as he slipped away

We looked backwards and launched ourselves into our four futures

Saving the bootees he wore for four days for nearly thirty thousand days.

Frances Bell August 2019

---

Yesterday was the 38th anniversary of the fourth day. Life goes on 🙂