"chasing tomorrow"
by *Blueskye27

flying home

stoic banks of clouds
give way to choppiness
like solid land falling
into quicksand

(don’t tell a terminal
cancer patient that
everything will be fine)

the sun comes directly into
my window, shining off
ice crystals between the
inner and outer panes

(the orange sun bounces
yellow off the blue wing
like metabolic activity
on a PET scan)

diminutive diamonds
in a perfect circle,
thicker at the top like
a tiny tiara

(a tumor at L4-L5
we hope is operable,
dread facing this
somber music)

the bright globe of day
floats for a moment
under the right wing

(don’t give her false
hope, just promise to
stay and take the
news without flinching)

a strange sensation
of flying over the sun
until it shrinks and disappears
at strange angles

(because that’s what
she has to do, across
the table from
grim-faced doctors)

my tiny tiara of ice
succumbs as we drop
out of chilled heights, its
diamonds dissolving into
cheap beads rolling away
unstrung

(if she says she’s dying,
don’t patronize her)

the clouds twist and turn
now, conflicted in their
unbrokenness, rising and
falling like a bleached
version of the Old Forest

(believe her and
pray for miracles)

we'll look to tomorrow and watch
for the Brandywine