We looked at the bright box
Lighting reproductions of your brain
You made the inevitable joke
And I wondered how many had
Sat like us, closely squished into single seat
Faux leather gleaming with accumulated sweat
For humor seems solitary solace
When the world goes to hell in a hand basket
Leaving behind folded gloves with bitten tips
Back then I was untrained, in navigating pursing hallways
Pushing wheelchairs, your head horizontal, stapled
Youth’s strength saw us over the sanitized hump
Out into the car park where we ran, loose gowns and trailing bandages
Afterwards felt like climbing out of hell, without traction
Floundering to understand the submersion of health
I told you, even nightmares have to wake up
And with each removed staple, pulled from your sore skull, you found release
Near did I guess, my own oily cavort with sickness
Lay silently sheathed, like store bought bread, just around the corner
I should have worn those pinching purple shoes and danced
You should have run the glow foam 5k and eaten vegan tamales
We should have visited Kavik River Camp in Alaska and climbed jagged cliffs
Tried the new Japanese restaurant with pastel tea lanterns
Wrung out from quick glimpses, thimbles of life
Instead I borrowed on my new found strength
Worked long hours, forgetting to look out the window at passing moon and sun
Putting off tomorrow, building futures without living now
It is our mistake when shown a lesson, not to stop and be mindful
For survival is found in, the smallest moments
