September 13, 2017

DESPAIR AND HOPE WEAR DIFFERENT FACES


DESPAIR AND HOPE WEAR DIFFERENT FACES

She sat across from me in the hospital lobby, arms cradling a bloody young girl.

I was waiting for Marian’s visit to end. Since learning she was pregnant, her face had taken on a rosy glow, a smile I hadn’t seen in the five years of our marriage.

Meanwhile, across from me, a child cried in pain. Dark battered face, swollen black eyes. The mother audibly praying, “Dios, Ayúdame. God, help me!”

I walked to the desk. “Can somebody take care of her?”

“They’re waiting for an emergency doctor to free himself a little time,” the desk nurse said.

Down the hall, Marian headed toward me like one of those TV commercials where a woman floats through the air, smiling, beaming, over her choice of some new product discovery.  

When I turned, the mother and child were gone.

Sheltered from danger,
The fledgling hides behind wings--
Mother keeps her safe.

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