Resilience

by Gabriela Carrasquillo 

I saw for my first time a real fighter

She has lived only six years at the most,

But no words could describe the strength of her.

Death was awaiting her like an evil host

Yet she showed no fear for what was to come.

She smiled and colored with such delight

The immense scar on her head made me numb;

That scar traced her skull like a nasty bite,

I looked closer and saw more puncture wounds

around her eyes; the absence of hair

Her little body and her little shoes

So innocent yet so much to bare

I look at this little innocent girl;

Such pain and sickness in this precious pearl.