Our Baby Boy

Our baby boy was born,
Oh what a glorious day!
But when we went to see him,
We were turned away.

"The birthmother is still sleeping,
She has to give consent,
In order for you to see him,"
And so away we went.

Later in the day we called,
And they said they'd let us in,
But first, they said, there was something
We should know about him.

"He's missing half an eyelid
And has large clumps of skin
On each side of his face
Where nothing should have been."

We gazed upon our baby boy,
Our hearts were filled with love,
He was the answer to our prayers,
A gift from God above.

"But wait, before you take him,
There's something you should hear,
He may be blind, or deaf, or both,
And let us make this clear

There is a good possibility
His heart might have to be replaced,
And his liver and kidneys might fail,
That's another thing to be faced.

Oh, and one last thing before you go,
We think he is retarded."
And since that was all they had to say,
We took him and departed.

Our baby boy grew big and strong,
And we knew right from the start,
He wasn't blind or deaf,
And he had a good strong heart.

He definitely wasn't retarded,
And his liver and kidneys were fine.
We knew there'd be other problems,
But we'd face them down the line.

Because you see, our baby,
Wasn't nutured in the womb.
Instead he was pickled in alcohol,
Locked...like in a tomb.

Locked somewhere that should have been
A place to grow and thrive.
Instead, it became
A fight, just to survive.

Throughout the years
It broke our hearts to watch him struggle to do,
Things that just come naturally
For someone like me or you.

And yet he was so loving,
And he had such a good heart,
He filled our lives with happiness,
Right from the very start.

But anger, frustration and pain
Were a big part of him too,
And as he got older,
They became a volatile brew.

And now he sits locked away,
Regretting in his soul,
The things that led him to this place,
The impulses he couldn't control.

But his story isn't over,
Even though charges are pending,
There are many pages left to write,
With surely a happy ending.

Because, our wonderful baby boy,
Your Mom and Dad love you,
And no matter what it takes
That's what they will do.

To see that a life that started out
With such a bad beginning,
Gets turned around, so in the end,
Everyone ends up winning.