Cancer
I watch the light fade from my mother’s eyes.
She smiles at me,
even though it hurts.
She tells me she’ll be okay,
though her assurances never work.
I remember being younger and waking up to desperate cries,
hearing her gag up the little bit she ate.
My eyes blown wide in the middle of the night,
mom, will you be okay?
My mother is strong, I know she is,
but cancer has drained her bit by bit.
She can’t even sit up from her bed to press,
a kiss to my father’s lips.
