First a bleeding
A slow trickle
Then an ache
A mass
Swelling and spreading
In the body
Tiny warfares
The cells could not contain
She is tired
Mom whispers
Her mother grew weary too
You could only take so much
Weight on a broken crutch
The reach of a poison's touch
Wounds intertwined
Endless evils
Metastasized across
The Atlantic
Parasitic
Exhausting every acre
Fatal sickness
Ancestors I can't name
Call out through time
Bruised histories and bodies
For eons and eons
To come
You could only take so much
Weight on a broken crutch
The reach of a poison's touch
Wounds intertwined
Violent sun
Reflects off new buildings
Onto my cheek
Old faces
Leaving a city
They built
Mom winces
As we watch
The cancer spread