Just Those 39 Weeks

For just those 39 weeks
I had you to myself.
And that seems too short a time
to be changed so profoundly.
In those 39 weeks,
I came to know you...
and to love you.
You came to trust me with your life.
Oh what a life I had planned for you!
Just those 39 weeks...
when I lost you,
I lost a lifetime of hopes,
plans, dreams and aspirations.
A slice of my future simply vanished overnight.
Just those 39 weeks...
It wasn't enough time to convince others
how special and important you were.
How odd, a truly unique person has recently died
and not enough mourn the passing.
Just a mere 39 weeks...
And no "normal" person would cry for months
Over a tiny, dead baby,
or get depressed and withdraw day after endless day.
No one would, so why am I?
You were just those 39 weeks, my little one.
You darted in and out of my life too quickly.
But it seems that's all the time you needed
to make my life richer
and to give me a small glimpse of eternity.

- (Adapted from) S. Erling