I should have been keeping vigil
but slept while tumor entwined artery
and vein, nourished while it devoured
her blood its blood,
thriving in the exchange.
Failure feeds obsession,
taken root in me this woman
not yet forty, a trellis of ribs counting
on false hope. I remember
her with hair flowing curly brunette.
Guilt rewinds and replays,
replays then rewinds, cannot be unplugged.
Missteps miscues rehashed retraced
scrubbed rescrubbed there are stains
on my white coat.
Click here to read Sarath Reddy on the origin of the poem.
Image: photo by Bret Kavanaugh on Unsplash, licensed under CC 2.0.
Sarath Reddy enjoys writing poetry which explores the world beneath the superficial layers of experience, searching for deeper meaning in his experiences as an Indian-American, as a physician, and as a father. Sarath's poetry has been published in JAMA, Off the Coast, and Please see Me. His work is forthcoming in Another Chicago Magazine, Poetry East, and Hunger Mountain. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.