Room # 4 / There's Always One More: A Poem

Room number four at the end of the hall

Three little children lie and with cancer they do brawl

While three stoic mamas sit to answer each call

Of these children whose cancers are the worst of them all

Drawn by compassion and curiosity

Into room number four enters Tia Abi

The suffering she can easily see

And she knows that this is where she is meant to be

The pain and the sorrow she cannot end

Nor the broken hearts and deformed bodies can she mend

All she can offer is to be a friend

Where there is devastation, she prays to be a Godsend

 

Hugs and kisses everyday she will bring

While she holds these children, sometimes you can hear her sing

Other days, she causes the moms’ laughter to ring

Her hand is offered for the moms and children to cling

Some days the agony is very bad

Blood, vomit, rotting flesh--enough to make you go mad

Tears fall because this all makes us very sad

Sometimes we wonder if there’s any hope to be had

Yes, of the misery I do tire

Yet finding and bringing hope is my heart’s sole desire

This passion burns inside me like a fire

To faith, hope, and love I will forever aspire

Now, three empty beds in room number four

Because three little children suffer no more

As wide open for them has been thrown Heaven’s door

And I can see them dancing on Jesus’s dance floor

Rosalia, Luciano, and Ana

I love you so much!

In your memory, I’ll never give up.

Again and again, I will give all my love.

I will laugh and I will cry…

And I will hold the one who suffers close until the day that I die.

Because even through tears, to love and be loved is bliss,

And there’s always one more. 

"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"  --Matthew 19:14