he asked

she blinked once

Yes

twice meant No

simple

distilled communication

functional

all parcels parsed

minimal

on the eyegaze machine

                           y   n

shortesthand

no exposition

heartbreaking she finally conceded

                                      y  to a larger morphine dose

4 days after her physician prescribed it

4 breathing

4 pain

she dragged her feet

y b in pain he asked

n  p

he smiled sadly yet bemused they were athletes they defined p as discomfort they refused to allow p a purchase

                                                                                                                        not p

he showed her the dose in the modified syringe

she blinked once

he took a breath

they knew where this was going

he infiltrated the morphine through her g-tube

she closed her huge beautiful brown eyes 

she had her mothers eyes

she wept

           tears filled the inside corner of her left eye

her eyes were sunken

                        tears when she allowed them heartbreaking collected

he went to dab her eye

he saw himself reflected in the quiet pooled tears

                                                     looking beyond his reflection he saw her on her seventh birthday playing on a Slip N Slide in the grass with friends she handpicked from among all her friends

                                                                                                  who were invited by telephone calls to their parents  they sidestepped the injury of not receiving a paper invite at school

it was a beautiful gay sunlit day filled with crystalspray splashing and thrilled laughter

he used the same Kleenex to quiet his tears and hold to his mouth as he left the room so she wouldnt hear him moan wouldnt hear him cry 

                           p

Day-between-Two-Ts evening,  12  2. 20

1052,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  12  8. 20