21 Day Challenge | Day 13 | Hands

13. Hands

Small hands present me
with
a book,
silent eyes begging that she
be picked up and
read “Hippos Go Berserk”
again.

Large hands clutch
their own book,
escape from the
despair that threatens
to engulf me
when I slow
down
enough to think.

Duty forces acceptance,
the child is lifted
and read
to.

It is a struggle,
performing this
duty
without revealing that,
at the moment,
it is a burden
beyond reckon.

It is a struggle,
and not fair to
the small hands
that lift
Hippos.