Six Wolves Lay

I wrote this after an ER visit with my daughter who suffers from chronic Lyme disease and co-infections.




Six Wolves Lay

We’re letting her sleep, said the nurse,
head bobbing in her own agreement
until I wrestled her eyes still,
until I made her understand this was
how my daughter’s seizures presented.

Snarling, someone better move their ass,
I wrapped leather around her fingers,
Grampa’s pouch in her hand there,
resting upon her chest.

Six wolves lay round my bed,
she said when finally the meds
let her come back to me.
Six wolves lay in protective
spread watching, she said.

She smiled with hand to chest,
Here, she whispered, here’s
where Grampa lay watching me;
I could feel the weight of his
great grey head and five others
on the bed, she said to me.