"It will be all right"

This is a song that has been playing on endless loop in my head these past few weeks. 

"First night of your life,
curled up on your own.
Looking at you now
you would never know.

I see it in your eyes
I see it in your eyes
You'll be all right.
I see it in your eyes
I see it in your eyes
You'll be all right.
All right."

(lyrics for "Wires," by Athlete)

I think anyone who has been a parent can understand the heartache of feeling powerless when your child is in distress.  I listened to the song this morning, tears in my own eyes, as he sings about tears in his.

I want to tell my son:  "I see it in your eyes/I see it in your eyes/you'll be all right."  But he's seventeen, struggling with things he can't even name, and these are shadows I can't banish with a night light they way I could when he was two.

Perhaps it is enough that I believe he'll be all right.

And I do believe it.