A WAY THROUGH HELL

I know little about raising children,
but I’ve seen enough to understand
that a parent embodies Christ
in a very real and startling way. They redeem
daily, make a way through hell.
I suppose the change in our relationships happens
when we realize that we, too, are in need
of some such help—
alone in our own fiery Gehennas,
swaddled in bands of
darkness, waiting
for a word, a hand
on the shoulder, a drop
of water, a voice to pierce
that great chasm, that
canyon between us.