Agony

Holding my four-year-old son
as he lies on a gurney
in pain like none he's experienced
pain I hoped he'd never experience.

Watching the needle and thread
go in and out, in and out, in and out
through flesh and keratin
of a form too fragile for this torture.

Neither the Lydocane nor the Ketamine
could keep him from the agony.

Nor could I.

Added October 24, 2004
By C. "Claxton" Murray