After the Loss of a Child: You Are Not Alone

By Monica Hofer

“... Powerfully tender, heartfelt and gripping.”

A heartfelt collection of poems about a mother's journey towards acceptance, understanding, and hope. Bereaved parents will be comforted in knowing they are not alone in their sorrow and anguish.

On reading, bereaved parents will be reassured that they are not alone as they pass through this suffering, not alone in their intense yearnings to have their baby back and in their trepidation as they face each “first”: first birthday, first Thanksgiving, first Christmas.

Through nature and the author’s personal stories along her journey, the bereaved are encouraged to find meaning after loss.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Monica Hofer
• Release date: Mar 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9780987830333

Monica Hofer

I am married and enjoy a simple and productive life in the Canadian prairies with my husband, Isaac, and son, Matt.In 2008, I began my first narrative, Heal My Broken Heart, endorsed by award-winning and bestselling authors, Jerry L. Sittser (A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss), and Mary-Ann Kirkby (I Am Hutterite). It has been described as both "...a gift to others" and as "Raw, anguished, extraordinary. If you have ever experienced loss or know someone who has, read this book!"My story speaks of my journey towards hope and healing after the death of our four-year-old son, Jordi. Gleaning from the hundreds of poems I had written after my son's passing, I have woven a story of hope for all who have suffered loss.I continue to offer encouragement to readers via my blog, and on social media (Facebook and Twitter). I hope to soon have a video on YouTube all about Jordi's life.My goal is to publish many more of my stories and poems, which have proven inspirational to both bereaved and non-bereaved parents, as well as to those who have not had children. We all experience loss in our lifetime, my poems help you to reflect on your own unique situation bringing new and uplifting insights into loss, sprinkled with healing, helpful reflection.I work tirelessly to increase awareness of the concerns of the bereaved parent, by sharing my own story of hope and providing direction and enlightenment to all people who suffer loss.

Book preview

After the Loss of a Child:

You Are Not Alone

(78 Poems of Healing After Loss)

MONICA HOFER

Copyright Monica Hofer, 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced, stored in or introduced into a database and/or retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

To my comrades in affliction, bereaved parents,

and to our loving families, the Laberges and Hofers,

who helped us navigate through the dark days and years

as they best knew how.

* * *

Other books by Monica Hofer:

Heal My Broken Heart

After Loss: From Grief to Hope (Poems of Healing After Loss)

After Loss: My Baby, My Baby (Poems of Healing After Loss)

After Loss: There Was The Tree (Poems of Healing After Loss)

After Loss: Where Dragons Are Slain (Poems of Healing After Loss)

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 – You Are Not Alone

This Bloodless Pain

I Cry

Who

No One Told Me

I Wish I Could Tell You

Do You? Did You?

They Mock Me

For Other Mothers

On the Outside

I Don’t Know

The Angels

The Numbness

Chapter 2 – I Want My Baby Back

I Want Him Back

He Will Come

Beyond Understanding

Look At Me

Reality

I Live For the Moon

Nothing Less

Live Now

Chapter 3 – Face to Face With the Firsts and Other Special Occasions

Too Soon (First New Year’s Eve)

My First Spring

I Will Wait No More

Wish Me a Happy Birthday

First Mother’s Day

One Year

For the Others

I Had to Face It

Your Birth Month

Black Days In July

Another Birthday

Five Years

Mother’s Day (Six Years Later)

Mothers (Nine years to the day after your funeral and burial)

Some Do

Chapter 4 – Other Mothers and Fathers

To Other Mothers

Who is She?

Will Someone Give Us a Voice

Melaine

Touched by an Angel

Another Place

Groundhog Day

The Angel’s Presence

Ryan, Little Prince

My Baby, My Blake (For Tracy)

Silent Exchanges

Some Fathers

Rage

Cruel Sorrow

A Mother’s Day Memorial Service

The Stone Angel’s Lament

Betrayed by Life

Hear Them Whisper (For Rita)

Chapter 5 - What Good Could Possibly Come of This?

Angels

Signs

Pennies From Heaven

He Brought Me a Blue Jay

How True Love Spreads

He Can See!

Vivian

Don’t Worry, Mom

Chapter 6 – Choose Life

This Chance, This Time

After the Storm

Where Dragons Are Slain

In Places I’ve Yet to Walk

He Rests

Alone

The Cat and Her Mouse

One More Time

I Must

In Someone Else’s Jet Stream

This Is My Cross

My Bridge

The Cemetery

The Bench by the River

When I Give Thanks

This Little Boy

As For Me (Ten Years Later)

Conclusion

About the Author

Introduction

These poems were selected to give words to grieving parents, to reassure them that they are not alone in their struggle to grasp their new reality. Most of them were written in the early years of my grief journey.

My husband Ike and I, with our boys, Matt and Jordan, had just moved to a new city and