i once stood at the foot of a bed and watched my child be resucitated. four months later, her father sat at the side of her bed, and watched her die. this poem is an attempt to capture the two polar experiences, where one anticipated or completed the other. i can't speak for his experience.having tried to listen and understand, this is how i heard it. stylistically, the two columns are one poem as life and death belonged to the one child, the polarities uniting in the fullness of life. i just want to add i had to fidget endlessly with a table html code to present the poem in two columns. it was difficult. and took longer than the writing of the poem. even so, i was not able to manually determine the width of the columns, it adjusted automatically to fit the writing. so the longest sentence is the first column is right next to the longest sentence in the second column,completely destroying the feng shui of the poem. grrrr.
| she stands by her feet | he sits by her head |
| life drains from her fingers | life drains from his fingers |
| gripping the cold steel of the bars | gripping the cold steel of the bars |
| below | above |
| her eyes fixed | his eyes fixed |
| on the fragile life | on the fragile life |
| there | here |
| flickering light | flickering light |
| her child. her life. her soul. | his child. his life. his soul. |
| tenaciously holding on | quietly letting go |
| suspended on a white island | cradled in a white island |
| life violently returns | life gently slips away |
| filling lungs | lungs empty |
| driving blood to the heart | blood pools in the heart |
| by white gods | while white gods |
| who pump | who fold |
| with pale mortal hands | their pale mortal hands |
| decree life | decree death |
| nod vigorously | shake their heads |
| speak boldly | whisper softly |
| of what almost was | of what has come to pass |
| life flows | life ebbs |
to her fingertips | from his fingertips |
| and her beating heart | and his beating heart |
| reminds her of who she is | reminds him of who he is |
| what she must endure | what he must endure |
| watching her child | watching his child |
| cling to life | leave life |
| cradled in a white island | suspended on a white island |
| shaken she sits | quietly he stands |
| her hands hold | his hand knocks |
| a warm cup received | a cold cup discarded |
