Stone Soup

Where young artists paint the world with words

The international magazine of stories, poems, and art by young writers and artists. Published continuously since 1973.

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Gone, a poem by Lyla Hershkovitz, 10

Lyla Hershkovitz, 10
Valley Glen, CA

Gone

Lyla Hershkovitz, 10

Gone
She drifts away
Crumbling
As I hold her hand, it crinkles
Lifeless
Drained
She says something I cannot understand,
Maybe because I’m not thinking
Fluids drip out of full bags,
The nurses detach the suctions
As if they want her to melt away
Her ring slips off, I don’t catch it
It’s like being a baby and wanting to tell your mother you love her
It’s like not being able to express
I get chills, and my stomach drops
The beeping of a pumping heart monitor stops
We’re done