If I Cry, Won’t You Hurt for Me?

I was torn.

If I cry,

Won’t you hurt for me?

If I don’t cry,

Won’t you fell unwanted, unloved?

Mama, don’t go, I said-

And I cried-You don’t want to go.

I know:

You, like me,

Want the pain to stop,

The cancer to be cured.

You, like me,

Want the nourishment flowing through the tubes

To make it possible for you to eat again.

Mama, don’t go, I said-

And I cried.

You could be a cancer survivor,

If there is time to care,

To show love,

To lay on hands.

Mama, don’t go, I said-

And I cried.

My tears, falling on my side of the shared hospital pillow.

Lana Mitchell

Great Poets Across America: A Celebration of National Poetry Month (VII)