I Saw The Photograph…

Maria Ní Mhurchú

I saw the photograph and

It brought a lump to my throat;

A foetus

Five months old

Too fragile to be removed

From his mother’s womb.

The surgeon made an incision

In the uterus –

The baby suffering from spina bifida;

The surgeon worked away in the dark

Miraculous hands directed by angels from Heaven

Fixing the baby’s spine.

But that’s not what brought

Tears to my eyes

No, but the sight of a tiny hand

Courageously slipping out of his mother’s womb

Curling fingers around the surgeon’s ring finger

A small but firm grasp

A thank-you to medical science

And to Our Maker who gives us the courage

To strive to make this world

A better place.