Poetry is a beautiful way to express deep emotions that are otherwise difficult to describe. Adoption is a unique combination of love and loss, especially for the adoptee. These three authors give a glimpse into their stories with their poetry.
1. This international adoptee, blogger “Happy Panda” writes about the connection she has with her birth mother.
Red thread
There is a red thread between two different kind of worlds,
One world with red dragons, incense and lantarns I cannot remember,
I guess I lost her many years ago,
What she really was like, I will never ever know.
She changed very fast after I left her twenty years ago,
She is not the same anymore,
Neither am I,
We both changed in ways you can’t imagine,
Despite the distance, I still feel compassion.
There is a red thread crossing the big oceans and small seas,
All the way to the place I am right now; here,
This world I feel, smell, hear and see everyday,
It’s the world where I love, eat, work and pray.
This world taught and showed me so many beautiful things life has to offer,
I am living my dream because of her,
She gives me hope, freedom and protection,
She gives me motivation and takes me to the right direction.
There is a red thread between two kind of different worlds,
Both worlds taught me a different lesson,
One taught me my roots and family history,
While the other taught me to enjoy everyday cause the future is a big mystery.
2. Being adopted isn’t easy, and sometimes people sugarcoat it. Karen Belanger is raw and real in her poem “Denied,” a piece about the frustrations of sealed birth certificates.
DENIED – By The Government
poem by Karen Belanger
Assembling Self
I plead though they ignore my cries.
The record’s sealed is their reply.
Time and time again I ask.
I’m told to put it in the past.
I can’t get them to try and see.
They have what belongs to me.
I beg for truth but no one hears.
It only falls upon deaf ears.
I get no matter how I try.
The same stone cold response
DENIED
3. Adoptee Keith shares a beautiful tribute to his birth mother.
To A Mother I Never Knew
© Keith
To a mother I never knew,
From a son who desperately misses you.
There were so many times I would imagine you,
But you would never appear.
And there were so many times I would cry for you,
Tear after tear.
I have even begged for you,
On both knees,
To please come save me, Mama,
Please, please, please.
And even as the years passed by,
I would never lose hope,
Because it was hope
That kept this little boy afloat.
I would daydream about the moment
When I would finally meet you,
And how I would cry and be speechless
Just to finally see you.
With my own two eyes,
Exactly how I had dreamed,
Angelic and beautiful
And as loving as you seemed.
But I’m all grown up now
With a son of my own,
And I try to give to him
What I’ve always wanted in a home.
I teach my son,
From the lessons that I’ve learned.
I teach him that love can’t be bought,
It can only be earned.
I’ve learned that sometimes love
Is so much harder to show than to say.
That’s how I know you truly loved me, Mama,
Because you’re not here with me today.
I can only imagine
The selfless love that it took
To say goodbye to your child
And take one last look.
To let him go,
In hopes that he can live a better life.
The pain must’ve felt
Like a dull serrated knife.
I miss you every day, Mama,
And I hope to see you soon.
But if not,
Then I’ll see you in my dreams tomorrow afternoon.
