10-Ready to Fly

A year ago you were in the ICU.

Now you’re visiting colleges.

Colorado or New York?

You crave an adventure

far from the home

where you spent

too much unplanned time.

My heart swells with pride

that you have the courage

to voyage out and start anew.

Yet my heart also contracts

with fear.

At 15,

you suddenly became

like a toddler again,

as for months

I monitored every aspect

of your being:

weight, temperature,

blood pressure, calories,

fluids in, fluids out.

Always just

an arm’s reach away.

Once cancer treatment ended,

you snapped right back

to your adolescent self,

racing to rejoin your friends,

as I stood by

suddenly empty-handed.

Now your limitless future beckons,

a prospect that once seemed

impossible.

Fly, Eli, fly!

If only I can bear

to let go

of your wings.