High-risk neighborhood

I must live
in a high-risk neighborhood.
The sirens scream by
every day and every night.
I don't think
I ever noticed them before.
Now,I recognize their presence
with a little prayer;
please, Lord, let there be
skill, hope and sensitivity
for all those involved.

If they wake me
during the night
I am angry 
for waking so rudely
and reminding me
that I have a dead baby.
It isn't the easiest thing
to go back to sleep, you know,
when you have a dead baby.

And during the evening,
when Jeremy is in bed,
and I am relishing
the quiet and contemplating
my choices for the night,
free from care-taking
when I can't even care for myself...
the sirens rip by once again,
and I am reminded
that I have no control.

Pain isn't enough
to tell them to stop,
love isn't enough
to keep the ones you love.

Ambulances are a fact of life...
And of death.

And of sleeplessness.

.