He Only Took My Hand| A Poem For Grieving Mothers
A mother endures a nearly incomprehensible amount of pain when they lose a child at any age. Poetry, books and other forms of the written word are consider a powerful medium for helping women grieving for the loss of a child. Many find that the comfort of words written by others who have endured the same pain, helps sooth the sadness a little. The following is one of the most popular online memorial poems used on virtual memorial and life story pages by bereaved parents.
Authorship is believed to be unknown, though I have seen references to a wide variety of others as well on unofficial web sites. If anyone can provide clarification to the authorship, I would be happy to update this post.
He Only Took My Hand
Last night while I was trying to sleep,
My son’s voice I did hear,
I opened my eyes and looked around,
But he did not appear.
He said, “Mom, you’ve got to listen,
You’ve got to understand,
God didn’t take me away from you,
He only took my hand.
When I called out in pain that day,
The moment that I died,
He reached down and took my hand,
And pulled me to His side.
He pulled me up and saved me
From the misery and pain.
My body was hurt so badly,
I could never be the same.
My search is really over now,
I’ve found happiness within,
All the answers to my empty dreams
And all that might have been.
I love you mom and miss you so,
And I’ll always be nearby.
My body’s gone forever,
But my spirit will never die.
And so, you must all go on now,
And live, and understand…
God did not take me from you,
He only took my hand.”
~Author Unknown
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:44 am
how touching
May 1st, 2009 at 8:23 am
this is so beautiful i lost my son at the age of 2 it was his birthday the day before and it never stops hurting my thoughts are with every parent whos ever lost a child
September 4th, 2010 at 9:50 am
this is so beautiful. my brother killed himself in 2008 and I swear he could have writen this.
October 21st, 2010 at 2:11 pm
My 23 yr old cousin hung himself a couple of weeks ago…..we still can’t believe that he is really gone. This gives us hope that he is at peace now…no more demons that he was battling….I just like to think that he is there with all of our loved ones that have gone before him. Love the poem