Tearing my heart out

So, mom got really sick at camp meeting tonight... she was miserable. We had to help her to the car and into the house. She was so weak it was scary...
Luke is very tenderhearted and worrisome. When he heard mom was sick, he got worried, and then when he saw her pale face he couldn't handle it, he ran to his room crying. I followed him. I got him to calm down quickly and I climbed in bed with him, to comfort him until he fell asleep. The poor kid, the devil's always hits me with a fear that something bad is going to happen to one of us. I had to promise him that mom was o.k. and nothing bad was going to happen, to get him to calm down.
Then, the unthinkable happened. Mom told us to go home. And well... that put Luke over the edge, he started crying and sobbing that he didn't want me to leave him. To "please stay with me Katie, I just need you!" No one else was acceptable. Debbie volunteered to climb in bed with him, until he fell asleep, but even that wasn't o.k. He wanted me to stay with him, to sleep with him so that he wouldn't be alone. I was "my favorite sister right now and I just NEED you!" It was tearing my heart out!! I knew I had to leave and that he would be o.k. But, I'm telling you, leaving a little boy, who's scared because his mom is sick, and needs the comfort of one consistent individual is heart breaking. I could feel his pain and fears... Each tear just tore me up... I told him to sleep with his teddy bear and I would sleep with mine. I would hold my teddy bear and pretend it was him, and he could pretend his was me...

When I got home, this was running through my head.

I head you in my arms last night,
Asleep in my own bed.
I felt your pain and fears,
Each tear that you had shed.

I wished that I could take,
It all upon myself.
That you could never know,
The pain the world does sow.