Mercy

For three months
you diligently
prepared.
Practicing
and practicing.
We got the right
tights,
and the clips
for your hair.
The last thing
you ever
expected,
was to be
paralyzed
with the
stomach flu.
Crouched over
the toilet bowl,
instead of
putting up
your hair,
and welcoming
your grandmother
and cousins
who all came
to watch
you dance.
Instead you
trembled in
your bed,
and wept
with gilt and
disappointment.
I'm sorry you
had to discover
the unpredictability
of life
this way.
I'm sorry that
I didn't get to
see your Ballet
show.
There will be
others,
my love.
There is nothing
to be done
when you
are at the
mercy
of your
body,
but to
succumb to
its will.

Sally