POETRY

Passing through

A grieving poem

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

The hospital room is quiet
except for her labored breaths,
each one sounding more tortured
than the last, rattling deep in her chest
with a thick, mucus soaked squelch,
as if she is breathing through
a straw
nearly submerged in water,
her body fighting so hard
to stay alive that her legs quiver
with the stress, and her ribs
expand and deflate
with the shuddery purpose
of a…