Sounds from Home

I only saved one letter on tape

a wonderful bit of proof

Mom and Dad didn't have a clue

what their little girl got herself into.

Dad whistling along

or singing loud and clear.

"For I know who holds the future,

so why should I worry or fear."

I didn't fear death,

I knew it as a friend

Who carried off the injured whose time

had come to end.

Yet, I treasured that tape as it played

A respite from the doom.

For 15 minutes I was back at home

where birds still sang and flowers bloomed.

Betty Lou

Stay With Me

Starlight, star bright

the stars twinkle

my path is light.

Summoned, I shiver

passing from 120 degrees

into the sterile coldness of the ICU.

I have entered your twilight zone.

You float suspended in mid-air

on a stryker frame.

You have no arms, no legs

Bolts protrude through your head

holding you in space.

I read your chart.....

to compose myself.

The nurse looks up and says

" he should be stable but he's given up."

I want to run,

but I can't leave!

If I leave, who will tell you

of the men with no legs

skiing on the artificial slopes at Valley Forge?

Who will plead with you,

don't give up so fast on your future,

or sell your family short?

I touch your shoulder

and in your mist of medication

take the place of wife and mother.

I pray, or did I whisper...

Please, don't you leave!

Stay with me tonight.

Betty Lou

Added 12/14/97