A three-year-old shivers unbeknownst
to what is causing his body to spasm involuntarily.
The horrors of the sad, clown-faced parents
exhausted, humorless, their internalized torture
exudes an aura that suffocates the pale, tremored
waters of the hospital room.

Sitting alone in shadowed corners
feeling the weight of a marriage dissolve
as worry for our small child lingers over
the dull cadence of a heart monitor’s finite calculations.
Waiting to hear but nothing is ever promised.
The sway of information, up and down,
we cling to any bit of hope offered.
Bargaining the entire world away to save one life
to see you safe…
our child.