We see through cost of stone -
The last of chemo treatments,
the wait between The Calls.
Sometimes things do not add up
to the correct amount of change.
Three generations of women –
wearing polka dots around a breakfast table.
How much did this cost us?
Grandmother took the bill.
A last breakfast, worth the weight of all the gold.
Can you ask someone to put their life aside,
to stand by and watch you die?
But what is real love without the threat of death?
We’ve become brittle and bitter with time.
Waited a lifetime to ask the questions -
What is the meaning?
Where is the line?
Do we pay with cash or karma?
Can we trade lives for lives?
Author Bio:
Megan Harris is a poet, blogger, feminist, and historian from Youngstown, Ohio. She has been previously published in Birmingham Arts Journal, The Jenny, The Penguin Review, and Ascent Aspirations.