Broken (Cinquain)

Breathless,
rapid breathing,
like hummingbirds in flight,
fruitless effort to exchange gas…..
Broken

∞

My dad survived esophageal cancer for eight years.  Unfortunately, while the radiation treatments may have helped cure the cancer, the radiation killed him by creating a condition called secondary pulmonary fibrosis.  The radiation scarred his lungs and gradually grew more short of breath until he couldn’t live without a ventilator in the end.  I am a little angry over that.  If cancer doesn’t kill you, the treatments eventually will.  My dad, toward the end when we knew his lungs were very bad, told us that he was “broken”.  I will never say the word broken the same way again.  My dad never let anything defeat him, and to admit that he was broken just breaks me down.

Cinquain: A Cinquain is written using a pattern. This type of poem only has five lines.

Line 1: 2 syllables Line 2: 4 syllables Line 3: 6 syllables Line 4: 8 syllables Line 5: 2 syllables