Nour Khatib
McGill University
Class of 2015
Franck-Boston/iStock/Thinkstock
There are moments you wish you could eternalize,
Drop everything and write,
Freeze the hallway of stretchers and whites.
Write about what you have gained
In both knowledge and life.
A mother’s first look at her perfect child,
A father’s tears as the cord is cut.
The first breath, the first blink, the first used diaper,
All celebrated in the first hour of life.
Then there are moments you wish never came
As they lay still with one hand over the other,
Paying respect to the world they never met,
To those who will always love them.
After all, you don’t have to meet to love.
Hands overlapping in prayer position
Pure and still, yet nevertheless present.
Present somehow, present somewhere,
Beyond the hallway of stretchers and whites.