How do I explain
to my daughter
that I missed her concert
by two millimetres?
A subtle bend,
caught late as my thoughts
were leaving to join violins
tuning somewhere outside
these sterile walls.
But you brought me back:
your flinch, the gasp,
a dip in the green lines
scrolling onscreen
above your head.
Those two millimetres
changed our trajectories:
you hit the cath lab,
I missed the concert.
And now that I’ve
told your family
all about it,
how do I tell mine?