These Holy Hours
by Sharon Tjaden-Glass
1:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m., 5:00 a.m.
These are holy hours
when the soft rooting of newborn hunger stirs the silence
And weary, warm exhaustion is brushed aside once more
In these holy hours
new life feeds and grows, minute by minute
Neurons connect and thicken
their paths beginning to deepen
Eyes open and drink
swallowing light and one familiar face
Eyes, free of shame and guilt and secrecy
Eyes that stare and stare
Eyes that wonder
These are holy hours
but hours for which no one wants to awaken
save the mother, whose body craves the contact
In these hours
ordinary actions become superhuman feats
witnessed by no one
In these hours, maternal instinct strengthens and sharpens
and all other desires recede
and it is mothers who detect and interpret
even the smallest of signals
In these hours, love is quietly knitted together
one diaper, one feeding, one burping at a time
In these holy hours
two human hearts rest closely together
synchronize and slow
synchronize and slow
the inside, now the outside
These are holy hours
when questions of creation come forth
and the shells of sacred mysteries begin to crack
under the magnitude of these most ordinary of moments
Their rays of light shining through
Revealing new truths in the Whole Story
Beginning of beginnings
These are quiet, still hours
when the rhythm of the present slows
suspended between the past and the future
when memories and hopes and prayers
swirl and mix
creating new galaxies of possibilities.
These are holy hours
When the Divine bends down to offer mother and child
a blessing that washes over them
and pulls them underneath into an ocean of warm sleep
once more.
LOVE. Can I share this, Sharon? It’s so beautiful and I was telling some of my expectant parents the other day how much I loved the 2 am feeding – that it was one of my favorite times of the day. The whole world (save for all the other Mommas and hungry babies out there) is fast asleep and it is reminiscent of when your little one was still inside of you and no one could understand that connection that the two of you shared. Sacred hours for sure…
PS – He’s BEAUTIFUL.
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Thank you, Barb, and you’re welcome to share this poem with whomever you want. 🙂 It really is a hard feeling to explain to expectant parents, the fact that you can love something so much even though it wears you so completely thin 🙂
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This is the most endearing account of those first holy weeks that I have ever heard. So happy for you and praising God that you can soak in the bliss and write about it so universally, so lovingly.
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Thank you, Amaya! So far, so good in the world of newborn care. He is mostly a peaceful eater and sleeper, so it’s giving me time to think and write when I have the bursts of energy that come throughout the day (and night…)
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