Bucking Up

She soars
Then tumbles
Turns this way then that
Clouds fill her vision
A dream-time acrobat
Free and unafraid
Yet still filled with dread

A low hum soothes
A baby’s cry
Igniting the world
Opening her eyes
She spies a lapel pin of wings
On a blue clad uniform
Remembering
Her mission
To be with Mom

Impatient restless
She settles on reading

Not understanding a single word
She returns to clouds
Soaring high
This time undisturbed
Until the bounce of a runway
Gathering belongings
She wonders
Panics
Will she make it in time?

Making her way
Through a safari of humans
She stumbles into baggage
Dizzy in fearful grief
Did she remember the driver?
But then
A sign held introduction
Dressed every ounce the mortician
Eases her

Her over packed bag
Hard to lift
Is surrendered
Into this black suit clad angel’s
Capable arms

Escorting her
Into the parking garage

His town car the confessional
She clears her mind
Unloading the burden
Sharing every detail
Her Mother’s story of woe…

The doctor’s diagnosis
Gentle but firm
Two weeks to two months
Mother asks what can be done
Nothing
Pain management
The consolation prize
Silence

Recovering her dignity
“Well it’s been a lovely afternoon Doctor”
A soft laughter fills the room
She is wheeled out still not believing
But none of us do
And we head home in silence
Bucking up

Now there is nothing left
Nothing but the cry of crows
Circling
Waiting
As she clings to the hope
That Mother will be blessed
With an easy exit

They wind through rain soaked streets
The skies crying for her

Frozen heartache
Somehow
Some way
She must
Buck up