I would run more than a mile
Just to save her,
But disease is crippling,
Takes what it can,
Leaving families abandoned, homeless, and burdened.
Tears stream down my face for the fourth time that day,
I cuddle myself close, uncomfortable in my clothes.
Chattering continues, a hand rests on my shoulder.
I’m too lazy to turn,
To look up at the beholder.
Curled up in a ball, my mind races for hours.
The world keeps on turning but my world has been shaken.
It spirals out of control, I can’t keep it steady.
I weep and I weep,
My bed is exhausted already
From soaking up tears and providing a shelter.
No video I could watch, no show I could binge,
Would give me hope or comfort, I tell her.
I can not be alone, I wake and I startle.
Nothing seems right, and I know her life is over.
I cannot bear to think how alone I shall be.
Departure, fake smiles, a longing to be
At home with my family, held tight in their reach.
My week crawls by as a caterpillar might,
But my heart knows more than my caterpillar mind.
I trudge on and I worship, tears crowd my eyes.
Suddenly, my heart has become a beautiful butterfly.
I weep but I smile,
I know who would walk more than a mile,
To hold me and comfort me,
In every golden hour.
He holds her close, she smiles through the sun.
Birds chirp and remind me, her life isn’t done.
I’m a beautiful butterfly, and the pollen is abundant.
Disease can take lives, but the Lord is triumphant.
--Kate G., 9th-12th Grade