Validation

The girl sitting beside me
tells her story
of her toddling boy
with the slanted face
and the holes in his heart.

Oxygen fills his nose nightly
while he sleeps,
and an alarm rings
when the sighing stops.

The woman across from me
prayed for me last week
because I was too quiet
and my face was too pale.
She says she had that look once.

This girl sitting beside me
explains she gave life to her son,
she will care for her son,
and she will bury him when all is done.

There are reassurances murmured
about advances in medicine
and how miracles will happen;
but we turn to each other,
and our eyes finally meet.

I see it there.

The truth is in her grasp,
and she is searching for peace
with what will come,
all the while patiently nodding
polite maybes back at them all.

Her stoic face is calm and dry,
and as the topic changes,
I am the only one to tell her
that this is so tough.

Then I am quiet and pale again.