It is like how a plant reaches for light

         no matter where you put it

                   chloroform begging for sunlight for heat

                            stalks reaching upward from cool moist soil.

It is like how your mother kept breathing

even after the machine had been cut off

never gasping, just trying to pull oxygen

            through the tube in her throat.

It is like how our Saint Bernard kept eating

         every morning and evening while her liver failed

                   while she ate the fur from the side of her coat

                            trying to soothe the pain.

It is like how roots find water even during drought

         burrowing deeper into the ground

                   smashing clay sewer lines

                            breaking open PVC pipes.

It is like how even after the worst news,    

the most devastating loss

the greatest disappointment imaginable

we hatch new plans.

It is like that,

the want to live.