Patch of Delight

Leaving the Doctor’s Office with Healthy Children

Photo by Acton Crawford on Unsplash

A small part of me has left the earth
no longer required to maintain that balance
of grit and humor and lightness
that comes so hard to me
especially under the harsh florescents
and unceasing beeping
— the airless rooms
and clouds of antiseptic —
buoyed by the guilt of feeling
like I have escaped some great disaster
while others enter this same…