The Sky is Everywhere
I remember the day after mum told us she had cancer
Wildfires had broke out
The sky was red, the air,
pure smoke
It was as if the world had erupted
And the apocalypse had started
Me and Ryan kicked the ball back and forth, not talking
Our eyes stinging from the smog
While I couldn’t run from what was happening
I could insist on staying out
The day before she died the skies were white
The streets were deserted
And the drive to the hospital
pure silence
I had seen her eyes wide with fear
Gasping for air
Like a deer caught in headlights
And was hoping
Just hoping
That wouldn’t be the last time I’d get to see them
The next few months, the sky was black
And nowhere was safe
My body lay slack on my bedroom floor
Laying to waste
My sister begging me to hold on
While the rest of the world kept on keeping on
I dropped out of school
Dropped out of life
Father crying why can’t you just get up
But Dad I don’t have legs anymore
My arms do not work
The daughter you have raised
Was no longer herself
She is broken
In a world, that promised so much
Instead she was given barely enough
It’s been a year and I now live in a place
where the sky is always blue
And though I have lost, I have grown something anew
The sun still shines
And it will continue to shine on
My mum is the sun
And the sun you cannot lose
Its rays hug the ground and kiss every sea
And while sometimes it rains
The sun never leaves
Sure there are clouds
but the world is stripped bare
Because my mum is the sun
And the sky is everywhere /
—R.