Farah Kaiksow, MD, MPP
School of Medicine and Public Health
2024-5
Poem
They said to wait a year.
That you would make your way back to us.
That you were strong (which we already knew).
That miracles happen (it’s true).
That the brain and body were magic.
That we could learn to wait.
So we waited
We sat, and we read, and we drove for hours to make our way to you.
We learned that we were strong (and you were brave).
We met people who could do magic (though they were only human,
after all).
We waited together.
And we waited alone.
And we learned to live with silence.
A year passed.
People moved on. Children grew. Expectations shifted.
And still we wait.
I drive the same routes we drove.
I walk the same paths we walked.
I do all the things we used to do together
in all the places where you used to be
I do them alone.
And still I wait.