“Too Silent”

Too Silent

My heart stops

hoping hers has not



too still 

too long

come on breathe

please breathe



wild thoughts circle me

in shifting shades of fear

panic holds me hostage

as seconds stretch to breaking



I wonder if This Is It

and then a big breath



she wakes

I reassemble myself

from far corners of

worst-case scenarios

and we go to lunch.

………….

Note from the poet: As a caregiver to my mother, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to all the feelings that can arise in the time it takes me to walk into her room. Sometimes I feel it more than other times…depends how much denial I can muster to hold myself in a calm space, ready for whatever may come.

©2026 Wendy Lew Toda
Published in The Door Is A Jar literary magazine, Fall 2026, Issue 40

Image: Priscilla DuPreeze, for Unsplash