The elephant in the room

So skinny and frail in her soft sweater

She smiled a fragile slice of a smile

They smiled back, said she was better

And even I, although only a child

Felt the elephant in the room.

There was no one to tell her what was wrong

Seeing her bony reflection she could only guess

If she was living and for how long

I cleaned her bed, straightened the mess

And left the elephant in the room.

She wished desperately to know

But she didn't dare ask

For fear of hurt, not wanting to show

The grief behind the tranquil mask

The elephant lurking in the gloom

It was invisible and everywhere

It came through tears at night

I played with tufts of her falling hair

In her arms when she held me tight

Glaring at the elephant in the room

The doctors would not say "sorry" to her

But they told us when out of earshot

The suffocating silence was not a cure

But we thought worse would be to talk

Of the elephant in the gloom

She'd tell me we'd always be together

And my parents rolled eyes of worry

I believed her, for my sister

Until then had never lied to me

But the elephant was in the room

I was too small to see the elephant

They whispered its name when we couldn't hear

Their faces like cracked ciment

Nothing is the matter

The elephant lurked in the gloom

She sits still smiling in my memory

As the unknown slowly crept upon her

We all tried our hardest not to worry

But day by day she grew weaker

More drugs, pills in the kitchen

The radio playing a menuet

She put her hair clips in a tin

And put them in my hand outstretched

She didn't need them anymore she said

Nothing left on my skinny head

The elephant was so big in that tiny room

My parents looked away

I prayed all night in the silent gloom

And yet she died the very next day.