On a cold and wintry mountain top

I look below and see

My mother and my daughter

Caught tight, they cannot flee.

 

They reach for me to save them

The rock is giving way

Only one is in my power

One I must betray.

 

There’s no more time to think about

My decision, I understand

The rock splits loud and sharp,

I catch my daughter’s hand.

 

My mother now is growing small

Silently she falls away

As if she knows I had no choice

Once more she has no say.

 

I awake in soaking bed sheets

Dripping the shame I feel

I cannot sleep at all now

The dream is far too real.

 

And then the phone is ringing-

A call to notify,

 “Your mother passed away last night.

Will you come to say goodbye?”

 

My vision is now cloudy

At sunrise the sky is gray

Somewhere in the passing night

I lost the light of day.