No Need For Sirens

They came rushing to the house
Gasping
Out of breath
To cry out “Come quick….your son…. bicycle….car”
She was silent and deathly pale
No grabbing her purse or a jacket or the keys
Just out the door
Running down the highway
With an icy hand gripping her heart

And there was a crowd
Standing quietly
Looking up at her as she got near
Then looking away
Looking away

He was many feet
From the highway
Where he’d been thrown
So small crumpled there on the ground

Blood from his mouth
Broken bones were obvious
And damage beyond all hope of repair

She touched him and told him
It would be okay
It would be okay

In the distance she could hear
The sounds of the sirens
Ambulance, police
And a man crying
 “I didn’t see him.  I didn’t see him”

All time became a blur
She couldn’t breathe
Tried not to sob
As she told him
It would be okay
It would be okay

The ambulance came
And quickly gathered him up
Placed his small form
In the huge gurney
Quickly carrying him to the gapping doors
In the back
They told her she could come
Not that they had a choice
She was going.  Period

They tended him as they could
More for her than for him
For his heart still beat
But they knew not for long

They flew down the highway
Lights flashing
Brightly in the night
But there was no need for sirens
For as her tear drops fell
The angels wailed loudly into the night

Michael Mathews
March 6 2011
Noon
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