Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: loss of a child

  • O Child! My Child!

    Alice Ranjan Redmond, Washington, USA   A woman personifying night carries two babies over the land, representing sleep and death. Etching by F. Bartolozzi, 1764, after Annibale Carracci. Wellcome Collection. Public domain. O Child! My Child! Enter did you, into this world, incarnadine and warm. But when I held you in my arms, you did…

  • Parental grief

    Ellen Zhang Boston, Massachusetts, United States   Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels We didn’t know the ending because this was us back then. Sometimes wanting is not enough. When the oncologist spoke. While you started to cry only because your mother did. As we cradled you gently. Beyond the singularity of such moments. There…