Emily

This is a day of enormous joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family. An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief.  Our prayers have been answered.

“Ooshkut,” she whispers. “Silence.”

The only word she has learned

In the long weeks of captivity.

A tiny child, the kind

that fairies would lure

with stolen berries in the woods

to dance all night

in their magic ring.                              

But she was wakened in her cot

and dragged to places

she dare not tell,

redeemed by chance

from a world more full of weeping

Than she can understand

to her father’s trembling arms

and whispers still

“Ooshkut.”