Goodbye

by Roxanna Castillo

(Las Milpas, Pharr, TX)

 

I’d seen her for weeks,

but never really knew her,

sat next to me,

but never talked.

Now I pay attention

when she’s in a wheel chair,

put all my time to her in a week,

when it should have been months.

Her name was Gloria,

but I called her Snow White.

With her skin so white, what do you expect?

I visit her sometimes,

scared to hear the worst,

until one day I open the door,

and she stares at the sky

with her white skin,

beautiful eyes, but no hair,

with the nurse covering her with a white blanket,

as innocent as her.

I knew she was ready,

but I was afraid to admit it

to her friends, to her family,

or to anyone

and now regretting things,

and thinking what I could have done.

Good bye, Snow White.