Day 563

This father is standing beside his child’s
broken body.  Just this morning
the child took his first steps, walked
and fell, stood up, fell again, stood again
and walked almost to his brother.
Now his body is shattered, open wounds
on his legs that had only this morning
found their strength.  Now he lies
in a hospital bed, his father waiting to see
if a surgeon can put these legs
back together.  The pain medication
isn’t enough:  he’s been crying,
but now he’s quiet, his eyes
open, he’s staring up
at the lights on the hospital ceiling.
At his father’s face. At the surgeon,
showing his father the x-rays,
telling him how he will try
to rejoin bone to bone, muscle
to muscle, so the boy will begin,
one day again, perhaps not long
from now, to stand.  To walk
all the way to his brother.