The Boy

A poem originally published on The Voices Project in 2014

There was a boy who never woke up
The doctors took his eyes and heart
To live in another
Boy whose feet will splash in the waves
And a girl who will fall in love one day

Even as the mother prayed
The boy went to the rainbow bridge
After kisses goodnight
A mother's tears taste bitter
On the cooling skin of a cheek

And while she held his hand
She smiled and straightened his shirt
And still, no one should have to buy
A bow tie in that small of size
To bury in a box

I don't know how she moves and breathes
But there are other children, skin still warm
To kiss and hold and raise
So she must for them
For us and him,
The little boy too