On a soft summer Virginia evening Shelly Wagner was pushing her five-year-old son in a tire swing in the backyard, idling away the hours between dinner and bedtime. She left him only for a moment, but when she returned Andrew had disappeared. He was found later that night, drowned in the river behind their home.

From the depths of grief that followed, Wagner began to write poems--not as therapy, she says, but to see if she could express the range of her experience more fully than the published books she'd read. What emerged from Wagner's quest is a volume of verse that has comforted and inspired thousands of parents, patients, and other determined survivors.

These clear, unflinching poems wherein she evokes the life and death of her five-year-old son are moving and unforgettable. . . . You will remember Andrew as if you had known him, this delightful boy. --RUTH STONE

These poems are as poignant as they are powerful. They give us words to the inexpressibleÑthe death of one's child--and take the reader on an emotional ride through tears and laughter, sorrow and joy. They lovingly tell of a young life that left behind a treasure trove of precious memories. They speak in exquisite image to the grief that only a parent who has lost a child can know. --Steve Daniel

The lines have the dignity that comes from unadorned precision, from putting an exact name to one's worst possible fears. --Virginian-Pilot

This book continues to be a source of comfort to bereaved parents across the nation. --Tidewater News

Shelly Wagner lives in Norfolk, Virginia, with her husband, John.