ANNALS OF THE DEAR UNKNOWN - PART THREE, CHAPTER FOUR

 

Son of My Sorrow

Eliza Tuttle and Rebecca Jones
arrived, children in tow, at Diah’s house,
prepared for any length of lying-in.
They tried their best to soften Rachel’s dread
at this one’s coming well before its time,
legs kicking low, its head beneath her ribs.
But Scripture only added to her fears.
The local midwife, Nanny Dunn, smeared grease,
bound the nascent baby’s feet with cloth,
and eased him out into a world of hurt.

Why Rachel named her newborn son Benoni
can only be conjectured. She had borne
her labor pains as well as in the past.
Though undersized, his cries were deafening.
With plentiful red hair and dimpled chin,
he was the image of his father. Still,
her brow was furrowed with anxiety,
a pins-and-needles sense of worriment.
Perhaps it was the solar eclipse, or
the flame-like port-wine stain upon his cheek.

Rebecca and Eliza cooked and cleaned
and tended to the children. Two days later,
when Rachel asked her eldest daughter, Hannah,
to fetch the heirloom coverlet—for she
felt cold despite the heat—then threw it off,
her breathing short and quick, her milk suppressed,
Stephen went to bring back Dr. Smith
or Dr. Gustin. Neither one arrived,
both being in mourning for their wives, who’d died
of childbed fever just the week before.

 

 The chapter titled Son of My Sorrow comes from this Bible passage:

 

            And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth,

            the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have

            another son.” As she breathed her last—

            for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni.

 

            ~Genesis 35:16-18

 

 

Note: Ben-Oni, translated from the Hebrew language, means “son of my sorrow.”  Benoni Munson is listed as child number twelve of Obadiah Munson and Rachel Tyler Munson (page 460, The Munson Record). The death of baby Rachel (child number eleven) is also listed on that same page.

 

COMING SOON: PART THREE, CHAPTER FIVE