CAN'T HOLD BACK THE WIND

 

CAN'T HOLD BACK THE WIND

ROBERT MARGETTS

Can’t hold back the wind

As a single mother,

Bleeding rose-petal tears,

Hearing from the doctor

That her child has terminal cancer.

She can’t afford the trial medications

Or even pay for the emergency visits,

Or even open the overdue hospital bills

Piling up on the kitchen table

And stacked in the sink

With day-old, dirty dishes.

The kitchen is disorganized,

As is her life—

Most left unopened

Or crumpled up on the floor,

With rage in every fist,

As she tore through

Threats from collection agencies,

Too afraid of the knowledge

That nothing could be done.

No hope for a widowed mother

With a seven-year-old

Experiencing seizures,

Blood dripping from her tiny mouth.

Her tears were tied to the clouds,

And they were heavy with rain.

Can’t stop the ebbing tides,

Fear of the future,

Looking into her eyes

And telling her everything

Would be all right,

Lies and more lies

Tormenting her nightmares to come.

Relief never coming,

Nightmares rolling in like

A rogue wave,

Crashing into the rocks

And rushing back into the night,

Never understanding the devastation

It had caused to

The once-tranquil beach.

That emotion was chained to the moon.

Can’t touch or breathe love—

Not mine to give or take.

Goodbye, my baby.

I will join you some day.

robert margetts

WHAT IS THE MEANING?

A mother watches her terminally ill child slip away while poverty, medical debt, fear, and helplessness consume the life around them. She tries to protect her child with comforting lies while her own hope disappears. Nature becomes a reflection of her grief—wind she cannot hold, tides she cannot stop, rain made from her tears, and waves that destroy the peaceful life she once knew. In the end, she cannot imagine a life without her child and declares that she will follow her into death.