First published by The Tokyo Poetry Journal
Time coiled into a knot
as she held her mother’s hand
to still fear
in the eyes that first held hers.
Minutes entangled in uncertainty
wavered on whether that night,
under a hospital’s fluorescent light,
senescence would sap life’s sandglass.
Each second
was all she could count on
as she combed through ways to say
what had been left unsaid
holding the eyes
the hand
the forehead
that first held hers.
Her hand caressed hair
to soothe sharp breath,
each gasp a stab.
She grasped at hope
as time fastened
around
them.