Ashlyn Ellis’s poem won second place in the UVU HS writing contest. She is a junior at Karl G Maeser Prep Academy.

Grandma

Her white hair

fades to nothingness.

Bags under her eyes

sink dark.

Wrinkles on her skin

spread wide.

The scars on her arm

slowly turn purple.

And yet,

she still smiles.

She tries to hold on

for when her grandson returns,

She needs to see him

one last time.

But in this moment

she lives for grandpa.

IVs embed her flesh

nurses come and go.

Tolerating the beeping monitors

she looks at him.

Tears fall

down his face.

His eyes, red

and swollen.

He hears

his heart breaking.

Bills pile up

on his crowded oak desk.

He holds her hand

wherever they go.

She cannot leave him

or he will break.