I lean in among the plastic tubes besetting you, my breath voluntary, yours urged.
Our cells mingle each with the other’s, spilling in a spindrift of air-water-ice between mouths.
You, going, dying, take my life to rest; I living, left, draw in your seed.

These poems pay homage to children I cared for as a children’s oncologist and hospice doctor. The poems are accompanied by original music by Cathy DeWitt, who has been a musician-in-residence in Arts in Medicine (www.artsinmedicine.ufhealth.org) almost since I helped found it in 1990 at Shands Hospital, University of Florida.

HARP Publishing, The People’s Press (www.harppublishing.ca) is a multimedia publishing house focused on the healing arts and arts for health equity. It offers print and electronic media both to those who give and to those who receive care.