The Hands We're Dealt

 

I watched the battles that you faced

as each infection raged inside,

each piece it threatened to erase

while playing games of seek and hide.

We’d grow complacent as it slept

as weeks and months began to pass,

and as they started to accrue

we’d hoped the devil got his due.

And yet with every bout you faced

that ate away at life and limb,

each new piece that it erased

held recuperation slim.

You stood up to adversity

and fought your battles steadfastly,

and faced the enemy with pride,

but every time you rode the storm

you came back home a little less

nothing seemed to stem the tide.

I mourned for all that you had lost;

it’s difficult, but I’ll confess

that everything exacts a cost.

I watched you struggling from within

but fight you did, right to the end..

I’m sorry for the times I lied

as I watched the monster grow

and told you that you’d be okay,

you’d live to duel another day.

It’s only now I can confide

that with each new morsel it consumed

the more it ate, the more I prayed;

but in the place where faith resides

another piece of me would die.

     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I share a face that I have honed

borne from the hands that I’ve been dealt—

to what end should I admit

to all the things that I regret? 

I’ll share instead the legacy

of those I carry in my heart;

it’s said that when we say their name

is when they come alive again:

once more to walk this earthly plain

and know their lives were not in vain.

© Ginny Brannan 2022

For my Ray, who never complained, and 'kept the faith' for us both.