Tender Mercies
By John Herlihy

“The baby is sick,” someone shouted above the din.
As grandfather, I sat eating dinner with the nine children.
The four-month-old infant cradled in its mother’s arms,
Wobbled suddenly unsteady and looking at her palms.
When a river of whitish liquid gushed out of her mouth,
Her mouth puckered as an oval creating a make-shift spout.
For a moment she hesitated, looking at the mess with a pout.
The rest of the children burst out laughing, happily amused.
The baby smacked her lips, making fists in protest feeling abused.

I retired to my study and didn’t think it much of a story;
Little children get sick all the time as part of the territory.
When suddenly the distraught mother came into the room,
The unconscious baby lay limply in her arms in a deadly swoon.
Her tiny features had lost their light, eyes closed out of sight.
I stood up my heart aflutter and feeling the effects of fright.
“We need to go to the hospital,” the mother cried, “the baby’s not well.”
Tears fell down her cheeks to the floor, gushing forth like a fountain;
The mother looked deeply through me as though climbing a mountain.

All the children stood up one by one, then gathered all around;
You could hear a pin drop and for once no one made a sound.
Every one of these children had cuddled the baby in their arms,
Counted her ten little fingers and kissed her pudgy palms.
Now she lay silent in the mother’s arms looking lifeless,
Whereas before she smiled and cooed as a gemstone, priceless.
One by one the children wandered away feeling forlorn,
As the father and mother made preparations to rush to the hospital.
The sick infant tucked in a shawl all quiet and looking brittle.

Waiting for news of the baby felt like waiting for the hangman;
The happiness surrounding the baby’s arrival now turn to chagrin.
Life is a precious, precarious, personal miracle beyond our control,
The newborn baby especially being one of God’s young souls.
Several hours later, the relieved couple returned to the anxious house,
The baby now looking more relaxed and sleeping like a trusting mouse.
Next day, I snuck into the bedroom and lifted the covers to calm my nerves,
The baby lay quietly sleeping, a look of contentment restored to the face.
I mumbled a prayer of thanks for tender mercies and heavenly grace.