She stands on the sandy beach
Her hands shake; she’s afraid
She steels herself with a breath
And into the ocean she starts to wade

Her brother jumps in, dauntlessly
“The sharks will get you!” he jokes
She ignores him, she knows the truth.
Sharks don’t attack unprovoked

She stares at the endless blue
Who knows what really lies beneath?
She walks with slow, hesitant steps
Into the ocean till she’s in waist deep

A brush against her leg, she jumps,
Shrieks and falls under,
A giant wave hits the beach,
She sits up and looks in wonder

On the ocean floor, a starfish sleeps
Its fins moves, she’s fascinated
A crab goes by with its sideways gait,
By the busy shore, she’s captivated

Tiny coloured gems shine on the beach
As if just waiting to be discovered
Shells of all shapes and sizes,
Waiting to be kept and treasured.

A small wave splashes her gently,
Sand and salt water everywhere,
Nothing to be scared of; she decides
She’s found her perfect spot right there.

No need to go any further
Into the ocean; into the unknown
Her friends make sandcastles nearby,
And she sits there happily, on her own.

He sits, head between his paws
His eyes watch them as they rush
Around so early in the morning
He knows they'll leave soon enough

Last minute packing is happening
Some bags are packed and ready to go
He sits, despondent,  in his corner
When they'll be back, he doesn't know

They pet him gently on his head
He knows they're saying goodbye
They speak in their foreign language
Their voices soothe him for a while

He wags his tail sadly,
He gives their faces a hearty lick
In his own way, he tries to tell them
"Oh please, come back quick!"

They coo and croon at him
They try to get him to play
He sits unmoving,  in a sulk
He knows, in minutes, they'll go away

They won't leave him alone, no.
The maid will keep him company
But it's not the same to him
He'll sorely miss his family

The bags are loaded into the car
He knows he can't come with
Their time to leave has arrived
With a mournful little whine, he sits

They'll come back, they always do
With one last pat, they depart
He listens as their car drives off
Now, his lonely days will start.

I spoke in nervous tones
On the day of your death
And found myself lacking all sensory depth

Some time next Spring
All the flowers eroded
And I couldn’t care less

I looked at my reflection and saw everything I hated
In the form of where you used to stand
And what was now left in its place

Gaunt and bitter
I adorned your absence
Like a crown
Hollow as my chest

His mother sits on the white bed
All the tests have been run
The doctor stands ready to tell him
The diagnosis has been done

The doctors speaks and he's saying
The words he's dreaded for so long
He wants to run away and cry
But she needs him  to be strong

He chokes back his tears
He really doesn't know what to do
He curses the fact that it's his mother
That cancer's sunk its claws into

More visits and tests lie ahead
His ordeal has now begun
He tries to take comfort in the fact
That they caught it at Stage One

But no number of reassurances
Can shake his fear away
At night, he prays feverently
"Please make this cancer leave today."

He never believed in God
But now he's lost faith in science
They try their best to **** the beast
But Cancer stares back in defiance

His mother talks of happy memories
It feels like she's saying goodbye
He tries to laugh while he holds her hamd
But tears keep flowing from his eyes

"I can beat this" his mother says
She smiles her gentle motherly smile
He feels his fear lessen a bit
He'll stay with her till the last mile

He'll laugh and smile and stay strong for her
Come what may in the end
God and science abandoned him
So instead, he'll just believe in her strength