The Eternal Verdict

The Eternal Verdict

By Sara P.

The executioner announced your sentencing

Through cold steel bars

of the hospital bed

that restrained your life.

Your emotionless, stoic stare

Matching the motif

of C.M.C. Memorial’s

240 square foot cell.

“Four months to live”

Was your prescription du jour

The side effects of which

Kept me bound to your side.

But you wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Forever the Litigator

Appealing your case

Through 7 clinical trials.

Your jurors in scrubs now

Watching and judging

As AbVie Pharmaceutical Co.

Eagerly awaits the verdict.

Compassionate RN’s co-conspire

Un-tethering you from IV constraints

So I can sneak you some sunshine

For a Father’s Day furlough.

We draft a Father/Daughter bucket list

For the Warden

Hoping to elicit sympathy

For dreams and things undone.

I pray to the Gatekeeper

To release the prisoner

For good behavior

And a life well-spent.

But the pardon is not granted

And the cancerous convict

Continues to haunt the prison halls

Destroying cell after cell.

You fight courageously

Beyond the 4 month record

So you can re-write history

And create some with me.

But as I hold your frail face

In my quivering small hand

I know you long for freedom

From the sickness’s shackles.

A hemorrhaging head

Prevents articulate sentiments

But I feel your love

In a gentle squeeze of my hand.

“I’m going to be ok, daddy.”

I tearfully whisper

Knowing that I am granting permission

For the prisoner to be set free.

You force a garbled sound

A daddy’s last “I love you”?

And a tear rolls down your face

As you close your eyes.

I visit you now

At Gleenwood Memorial

Where you are finally free

Of sickness and pain.

You argued your case

To THE Supreme Court

Award winning Writ of Certiorari

Of eternal freedom.

But I miss you so much, Daddy

And selfishly wish you back

to that brief moment in time

To say,  "I Love You Too!"