Cradle Made of Sky
Little star who never touched the earth
but changed the gravity of our days
you rewrote the map inside our hearts
then drifted home in other ways
Every tear that falls for you
is proof that love can bloom
before hello
and every quiet empty space
still holds the light
you started to grow
If there is a cradle made of sky
I hope it rocks you easy
through the night
know that here below
inside this house
your tiny spark
still softens every fight
We painted such a quiet hope
in colors we had never named before
holding little whispered plans
like petals pressed
between our bedroom doors
There was a chair
that waited patient
in the corner by the window light
tiny clothes that smelled like someday
folded for a golden night
Every breath your mama took
was half a prayer
and half a trembling plea
every heartbeat thin and fragile
like a bird above a restless sea
We spoke your name in secret
like a soft forbidden lullaby
and every syllable was gentle wind
that helped the curtains sigh
Then the fever came like winter
creeping slow through every hallway vein
turning every hopeful word
to fragile glass
we dared not say again
Doctors talked in quiet circles
tracing shadows on an unseen wall
every chart and every number
felt like dice we never meant to call
She would close her eyes
and picture you
a little spark that hummed
beneath her hand
whispering
“stay with me a little longer
be my tiny promise in this sand”
I sat outside that door
and held the wall
like it could somehow hold her too
wishing I could trade my body
for the chance to breathe
for both of you
They placed something
in her shaking hands
not your weight
not what we longed to feel
only silence
where there should have been a cry
to prove that you were real
The hallway clock refused to move
while everything inside her
cracked in two
every second stretched forever
holding all the words
we never gave to you
She asked if she had failed you
if her body was a house
that lost its frame
I told her every broken piece of this
was cruel
and none of it was hers to claim
Love is not a promise of arrival
love is simply showing up each day
and she showed up for you
with every breath
until they took your chance away
Now there’s a bedroom
with the light turned low
where dust floats
like a little ghost parade
and a lullaby hangs half-finished
in the air
where your first smile
was supposed to be made
We keep your blanket folded
on a shelf
like a soft unfinished line in ink
and every time we brush against it
grief pulls us to the edge
where we can’t think
Yet somewhere in this hollow ache
a quiet truth begins
to gently rise
if a soul can touch us without birth
then you are here
each time she cries
If time were kind
we’d hear your footsteps
down this hallway
made of worrying and paint
we’d be tripping over toys
and little socks
instead of standing
in this faint
Yet here we stand
with empty arms
and hearts that carry
every unspent kiss
and in the middle of the ache
she whispers that she felt you
and she holds to this
For a moment there was flutter
there was warmth
that rose and brushed her spine
and in that breath
the universe bent inward
just to say
that you were mine
We never got to count your fingers
never traced your sleepy little brow
still the echo of your maybe
wraps around us
in this trembling now
Rest in arms we cannot see
where pain can never touch
your gentle skin
When she closes tired eyes
and lets her sorrow drift
across the darkened floor
maybe you will meet her in a dream
and lean your forehead to her door
We will talk about you softly
never treating you as less than real
you were here in every heartbeat
you are part of everything we feel
Little flicker
you are not a story cut in half
you are a quiet thread of light
that runs through every tear
and every laugh