"Her Name Was A Prayer"

06/28/2002

Her name was a prayer:
Live, Little One, Live.

She was small
She had long fingers and toes
She had dark short hair
Her feet were ticklish
And she fought.
Oh, how she fought

Viviana.
She was loved by hundreds, but was met by only a few.
Her Mother and Father packed a lifetime of love
Into a seven short days.

She was too young to have fingernails.
She was too young to breathe on her own.
She was too young to have met the world and all the people who loved and prayed for her.

But she was old enough to have met her Grandmother
Old enough to have a pet name: Vivi
Old enough to be considered a diva by the
doctors, nurses, surgeons and technicians
Who cared and cried and loved her.

Her mother.
Her father.
Tasted the sweetness of complete love for their child
Clung to each other in the joy and the fear.
Saw the face of her father in Vivi’s tiny little features.
Hoped and despaired in the same moment.
Cried and cried and cried.

She was born in a thunderstorm.
She passed from this world as the heaven wept.
One week she lived.
A lifetime of love she carried with her.

Vivi. Viviana. We loved you unseen.
Chrissy and Geoff… we love you, now and forever.

~ Ani Moore MacDobhran

Someone on alt.fairs.renaissance posted that they planned to light a candle for Vivianna. I thought that was a nice idea, so I lit one last night. It was vanilla scented, mild and sweet. I sat there, just gazing at the flame -- the only source of light in the room -- and let my thoughts go. I was surprised to feel tears sting my eyes. I never met Vivianna. I didn't fall in love with her. I don't know Sunni and Geoff very well. All I did was read the online journal, its brave entries full of love and an optimism that was heartbreakingly guarded. Maybe I cried for all of us. ~ Darcy aka PyrateLady @ 2:02 p.m. EST on 06/28/2002