Praise Be Death, for you bring peace to the suffering,
and usher souls into their better tomorrow; the afterlife!
Aviana, so young, so brave, so full of life, the perfect child,
a voice as sweet as a summer song, could sing the birds to sleep;
Elementary school homework, fall sports, trick-or-treating,
suburban roundabouts and perfect white sidewalks, it's just -
A middle-class dream packaged into cookie-cutter new builds:
white shutters and spring wildflower filled ceramic pots, oh!
And don't forget the red crossover "soccer mom" car, new,
the same one that drives Aviana to her annual appointment;
Little did the brave bird know she would soon memorize:
the smell of the leather seats, the dryness of the driving winds,
and the individual threads of the left-side passenger seatbelt;
Aviana will face the Great Sire of Death multiple times, but,
a child cannot run from him forever, and when her time comes,
and it will come, she will have her tiny arms spread wide open:
the little girl will soar into the afterlife like an eager bird;
Aviana will lose the battles and the war, but she will be free.
YOU ARE READING
terminal
PoetryThis is an epic poem that tells the tale of Aviana - the middle sister in her family of five who is diagnosed with cancer at just six years of age. It will be a raw telling of how terminal illness wreaks havoc in the lives of those touched by it whe...
